Culver great Paul Gignilliat ’49 W’43 has died, he lived up to storied family legacy

 

At the Graduate of the Year ceremony, Gignilliat reflected on the legacy he inherited, specifically from his grandfather. “I have walked in his shadow. I hope he is pleased.”

His grandfather and great-grandfather both would surely have been pleased by his accomplishments.

Service and Leadership at Culver

Gignilliat volunteered his time to Culver for decades, and his involvement ran the gamut of the school’s work. He served on the Culver Educational Foundation Board of Trustees for 45 years and held roles on the Legion Board, the Arts & Letters Hall of Fame Selection Committee, the Committee of the Horse, the Fine Arts Advisory Council, and several Summer Schools & Camps planning groups.

He was also an honorary member of the Culver chapter of Cum Laude. Fundraising and alumni engagement were central to his volunteer work. He enjoyed staying connected with graduates and encouraging their support of the school. As chairman of the National Annual Fund, he championed annual giving, and as class agent he achieved 100 percent participation. He became well known for his persistence, warmth and effectiveness as a fundraiser.

In addition to the time he devoted to Culver, Gignilliat and his wife supported the school with material contributions aimed at strengthening the Culver experience for students and faculty. Their giving began with enduring commitments: they created scholarship funds that have supported students for years and established grants that helped young faculty pursue further study and reduce the burden of their student loans.

They also backed targeted educational opportunities as they arose, including support for the Leadership Committee for Africa, which enabled a group of young women to travel on a service mission.

“Much like the general, the Gignilliats have carried on a family legacy of service to Culver by way of preparing young people for bright futures and great success,” said Doug Bird ’90, Ed.D., Culver’s head of schools.

The couple’s most impactful philanthropy extended deeply into the arts, an area Gignilliat cared about despite claiming he had “no artistic ability.” Together, the Gignilliats created the Culture in Chicago program, giving students, faculty, and staff repeated opportunities to visit Chicago and attend the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, see Hubbard Street Dance Company, visit the Art Institute, and see performances at the Shakespeare and Steppenwolf Theaters. The Gignilliats regularly joined students at the Culture in Chicago events and hosted them for dinner afterward. Gignilliat took a genuine interest in the students’ backgrounds, ambitions, and experiences.

 

“Some might say that Paul and Ellen have been Culver’s patrons of the arts,” Buxton said at the Graduate of the Year ceremony.

Bird added that the Gignilliats had long believed the arts were a vital part of the Culver education.

The Gignilliats’ support reached beyond Culture in Chicago: they provided scholarships for selected Culver students to attend Interlochen Summer Camp; underwrote student and faculty travel for choir and orchestra performances at Carnegie Hall, the Mozart International Choral Festival in Salzburg, and the Rome International Choral Festival; and funded supplemental training for aspiring artists across the campus community. Gignilliat believed these experiences not only exposed the world to Culver students, but also exposed Culver students to the world.

The Gignilliats’ in-kind generosity was also renowned. Buxton often referred to Gignilliat as the “patron saint of the Culver Summer Schools & Camps,” in recognition of his eagerness to invest in the facilities and equipment integral to the summer programs.

Gignilliat’s lifelong love of trees and his belief that they were essential to Culver’s beauty and character made him the “patron saint of trees on campus” according to Buxton. Gignilliat underwrote the planting of countless trees across the campus and supported their ongoing care, ensuring that future generations would experience the same enduring landscape he cherished.

Buxton praised the Gignilliats’ generosity, saying it was extraordinarily transformational for the school, much like the contributions of Gignilliat’s great-grandfather and grandfather.

Mary Gignilliat said at the unveiling ceremony for her parents’ portrait that they were “a powerful force for good” and “their generosity, kindness and dedication has benefited so many organizations with Culver at the very top of that list.”

Early Life and Education

Gignilliat first visited Culver’s campus at age 6, staying in his grandparents’ Swiss chalet home located where the Huffington Library now stands. He remembered his grandfather’s slight build, quiet voice and worldly view. At Thanksgiving in 1941, Gignilliat heard his grandfather ask, “What will the Japanese do?” The question stayed with Gignilliat and became seared into his memory when Pearl Harbor was attacked a few weeks later.

Gignilliat began his Culver journey as a Woodcrafter in 1943. Later, as a CMA cadet, he was a member of Company D, a varsity boxer, a participant in various intramural sports, and a member of the Cadet Club and Honor Guard.

He went on to Yale University, majored in history, and lettered in crew. At 165 pounds, he liked to joke that he was too heavy for light crew and too light for heavy crew: “So I rowed every day but race day.”

 

 

 

He was a member of the Naval ROTC program at Yale University and graduated in 1953 and was commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade into the Navy and was assigned to the destroyer escort USS Daniel A. Joy, stationed on the Great Lakes.

“I wanted to see the world and was a $3.50 cab ride from home,” he said with his distinctive laugh.

Meeting his wife

Following his discharge from the Navy in 1955, Gignilliat joined the staff of the Culver Summer Naval School as a sailing instructor, even though he did not actually know how to sail. He met his future wife, Ellen, at a local watering hole called Bob and Kate’s Lakeview Tavern, now the Lakehouse Bar and Restaurant. His lack of sailing skill notwithstanding, Gignilliat took her night sailing on their first date.

“In turning about, the boom nearly knocked Ellen out of the boat. Then I almost fell in the water trying to dock,” he recalled. “When we finally finished, I knelt to the ground and kissed good old terra firma.”

When his teaching stint concluded, Gignilliat traveled through Europe with CMA friends until their money ran out in December. He continued to date Ellen throughout 1956, and in January 1957 he proposed to her on the Academy golf course. She accepted, and they were married in June 1957. Gignilliat liked to say that marrying Ellen was “one of my better decisions,” although those who knew him recognized that it was the best decision he ever made.

After completing his service, Gignilliat began his career in the financial services industry at Glore Forgan in 1955. He joined Kidder, Peabody & Co. in 1961 and remained with the firm through its subsequent acquisitions by GE, then PaineWebber and ultimately UBS. His natural feel for the markets, instinct for trends, and comfort with the measured risk inherent in investing served his clients well for nearly six decades. He found success by following his guiding principle: “Enjoy what you do and do it well.”

Civic Leadership

Following their wedding, the Gignilliats settled in Oak Park, Illinois, where they raised their three daughters, Suzanne, Bibby and Mary.

In 1985, they moved to downtown Chicago and began their lives as empty nesters. Gignilliat brought the same spirit of service and leadership he showed at Culver to a wide range of civic, cultural and educational institutions. He served as:

• President of the Oak Park–River Forest High School Board

• Director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation

• Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

• Director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

• President of the Yale Club of Chicago

• Trustee of the Chicago International Film Festival

• Founding member of the Chicago Humanities Festival

• Trustee of Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago

As with Culver, he was also recognized for his generosity to the Merit School of Music, Yale University, and The Night Ministry.

 

 

Gignilliat often said he gave his time and resources because he enjoyed helping people excel at what they loved. He especially valued meeting the students who benefited from his scholarships at Culver and Yale. Those who met him consistently described him as a kind man who listened closely, asked thoughtful questions and offered steady-handed guidance. Many students continued to seek his advice after graduation, drawn by his warmth, good humor and willingness to advise when asked.

Gignilliat was a true Renaissance man. He loved books, music and language, filling his home with histories, novels and poetry, and listening to everything from symphonies and opera to folk music and classic rock.

Athletics remained a constant in his life, a discipline first learned at Culver when he was required to go out for a sport every day. He carried that routine forward for decades, running two New York City Marathons, doing triathlons, cycling, swimming, golfing, and playing squash, handball, and tennis—sports in which his unusual ambidexterity was both memorable and formidable. He even took up tap dancing at age 80.

He and Ellen were best friends and partners for nearly seven decades, united by shared values and an easy rapport. Gignilliat was an especially involved father and grandfather who shared his love of books, stories, language, music and games with his daughters and later with his grandsons.

He relished time with them and took genuine pleasure in their company. When asked to describe his family, he liked to say they were “neat.”

Gignilliat was a gentle man and a gentleman. He was admired for his humility, humor, kindness and wisdom, and was respected in every community he joined for his warmth and his willingness to contribute. After his family, Culver was his greatest love. He embraced his Culver heritage and carved out his own legacy of service, one that would make his forefathers proud.

He is survived by his wife, Ellen, and their three daughters: Suzanne (Thomas Hinkes), Bibby ’78 SS’76, and Mary W’79 SS’82, as well as two grandsons, Paul Hinkes (Carolina Trombetta) and Philip Hinkes.

Memorial services will be held in Chicago on Dec. 16 at 3 p.m. at Fourth Presbyterian Church, and in Culver on Dec. 18 at 1 p.m. at the Culver Academies Memorial Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to support scholarships at Culver Academies.