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A donor may set up a charitable foundation in perpetuity, and the foundation’s trustees are obligated to carry out the donor’s intent. These two defining features of the American legal system afford donors a form of immortality, writes Ray Madoff in her new book, Immortality and the Law: The Rising Power of the American Dead (Yale University Press). But when current needs are effectively surrendered to the “dead hand�� of the past, and when that trend is driven not by the wishes of the dead so much as by the living who stand to benefit the most �� trustees, bankers, and financial services companies, society and the donor himself or herself ultimately lose, Madoff argues.

On May 18, �����’s Bradley Center gathered a panel of experts to discuss the issues raised in Madoff’s book: Is it impossible to prevent donor intent from being corrupted? To what extent should it be honored after a donor’s death? Who should decide?