Ruth Kahl’s estate gift honors Bill’s legacy and supports students in need.
It started with a phone call. Bill, who oversaw sales from National Semiconductor’s Southern California office, called the company’s Northern California headquarters when Ruth, an inside sales rep, answered the phone. A few weeks later, they met up for a USC football game and, before long, were traveling between Northern and Southern California to spend time together.
After they got engaged—and just as Ruth moved to the Los Angeles area—National Semiconductor suddenly moved Bill to Northern California. “I moved down there and then right back here,” she says with a laugh. After the wedding, they bought a place in Los Altos where they settled into a pleasant routine, spending time with Bill’s sons and enjoying baseball, basketball, and football games together.
A few years later, there would be one additional relocation—this time to Hong Kong after Bill was tapped to run National Semiconductor’s Southeast Asia sales and marketing efforts. For Ruth, the move was an opportunity to complete her bachelor’s degree so she began taking classes at the University of Hong Kong. “Eventually we were going to move back to California because Bill’s stint was for only four years, so I contacted Father Coz, who was Santa Clara’s Study Abroad program director, to see about transferring.”
Ruth formed a close bond with Coz, welcoming him and a group of Santa Clara study abroad students to Hong Kong. When Ruth and Bill eventually returned to California, the then-37-year-old undergrad settled seamlessly into her studies, majoring in electrical engineering. “I’m five feet tall and 98 pounds and I’m wearing jeans, sneakers, and a backpack,” she recalls, “so I think my classmates thought I was around their age.”
After completing her degree in 1995, Ruth began a successful career in sales and marketing in the semiconductor industry. But now it was time for Bill to change course. “He was very goal-oriented—he kept a list of his life goals taped to the side of his computer,” she recalls. He ultimately completed a doctorate in education and began teaching courses in leadership and organizational development and management at Golden Gate University and San Jose State before landing at the Leavey School of Business, where he would spend a decade until his passing in 2011.
Ruth with her best friend, Linda Lanzl, on a bench dedicated in Bill’s memory in 2018.
A beloved professor to generations of business students, Ruth wanted to honor Bill’s legacy by making a gift that acknowledges the role Santa Clara played in both of their lives. “One of my classmates really struggled to afford her tuition, and that stayed with me,” she says. Accordingly, her estate gift to establish the Ruth and Dr. William Theodore Kahl, Jr. Endowed Scholarship Fund will provide need-based support for students studying in the Leavey School of Business and the School of Engineering.
But Ruth has an additional way to memorialize her husband’s time at Santa Clara. Every Valentine’s Day, she plans a special lunch where she orders Bill’s favorite sandwich (a Togo’s Primo Italian sub) and heads to campus to sit on a bench near the business school that is dedicated in his memory. “He really was a great guy, and I miss him every day,” she says. “He spent ten years at the University and worked hard—it was his passion, and he loved it. It’s important to me that he be remembered, and helping students afford their education is a meaningful way for me to do that.”
Did someone in your life have a meaningful connection to Santa Clara University? Contact the Office of Planned Giving at 408-554-2108 or giftplanning@scu.edu to learn more about creating a lasting tribute through a memorial gift.