Couple Gives Back to Help Future Generations of Students Realize Their Dreams

Margot (Kathy) Dishner Kluender '71, '72 MS and Her Husband, Dr. Marc C. Kluender, Create Scholarships Through a Bequest in Their Estate

Alabama native Margot Dishner Kluender ’71, ’72 was encouraged to start thinking about college from a young age. Her mother had sacrificed a prestigious scholarship during the Great Depression and was determined that Margot earn a university degree, despite the family’s modest circumstances.

During her high school years, Margot overcame a number of challenges—including the death of her father—to graduate as salutatorian of her class of 581 students. Before her senior year, she was selected to participate in a National Science Foundation program for high-achieving math and science students at the University of Chicago, and it was during this experience that she focused on Northwestern as her first choice for college.

Along with her acceptance, Margot received a generous financial offer to attend the University. “It meant the world to me,” she says, and credits this support with changing the trajectory of her life and inspiring her to give back through her estate plans. “Without the generous financial support from Northwestern, I could not have attended,” she says. “And without Northwestern, I could not have had such a fulfilling career or lived the life that I have lived.”

Margot’s years at Northwestern provided a new level of social, political, and cultural awareness, broadening her education beyond the classroom.  The political activism of the student body during the Vietnam War was enlightening to her, and that activism became an integral part of her life. She forged close relationships with classmates and Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sisters, many of whom she remains close with today.

During a summer job in the marketing department of The Progressive Farmer magazine, and its spinoff, Southern Living, Margot’s interest in advertising was piqued. She transferred from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, where she was studying math, to the Medill School of Journalism, Marketing, Integrated Communications, and stayed on to earn a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.

Margot was hired by Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample, one of the many top-tier ad agencies that recruited from Medill, and began a dynamic career on Madison Avenue at a time when women were first being considered for management positions. “It was a thrilling time in the advertising industry and I felt so lucky to have had the right degree at the right time,” Margot says.  During her 15 years at the agency, which was later purchased by Saatchi and Saatchi, she worked on a number of high-profile accounts—including Proctor & Gamble, General Mills, and Chase Manhattan Bank—and was promoted to senior vice president at age 34. 

Medill prepared Margot well for her career. “When I got my first assignment, I was able to hit the ground running,” she says. “I understood what I was doing and how it fit into the big picture.” This confidence helped her succeed in an industry that was then dominated by males. “When I was hired, there were no women account executives in my agency,” Margot says. “I always felt that I had the knowledge base to do the highest caliber work for my clients.” 

In the late 1980s, Margot moved to California, where she met her husband, Marc, a clinical psychologist. Now a Bay Area resident, she has earned a degree in finance and continues her passion for marketing and advertising with SCORE, a non-profit that provides business mentoring to entrepreneurs. She stays connected to Northwestern by visiting both the Evanston and San Francisco campuses and lifelong friendships.

Motivated by her superb educational experience at Northwestern and her appreciation for the financial help the University provided to her, Margot and her husband have committed to ensuring that future generations of students have access to a Northwestern education, regardless of their circumstances. Through a generous bequest in their estate, they have created the Marc C. and Margot Dishner Kluender Scholarship Fund, which will be realized at the end of their lifetimes. Bequests—most often made through a will or trust—are popular because they are simple and revocable, and allow donors to retain control of their assets while they are alive. 

The Kluenders’s scholarship fund will support students who are likely to contribute to educational diversity at Northwestern, and promote the advancement of women at the University and beyond. As Margot explains, “I want to do what I can to help high achievers from modest backgrounds realize their dreams as I did.”

Help open doors

If you would like to support future generations of students through scholarships, please contact Northwestern Gift Planning at giftplanning@northwestern.edu or 800-826-6709 to discuss gift types and options for including Northwestern in your estate plans.