Years ago, Shari Cantor \u201981 (BUS) attended a UConn-Yale football game nine months pregnant. Hemmed in by a sea of cars and fans, she knew that making a quick exit would be close to impossible. But missing the game wasn\u2019t an option for this Husky devotee. Her luck held out: it wasn\u2019t until the drive home that she went into labor.<\/p>\n
\u201cUConn is the fabric woven into every part of our lives,\u201d says Michael Cantor \u201980 (ENG), \u201983 JD.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to miss the alumni couple\u2019s influence on UConn as dedicated alumni, donors and leaders. Across UConn\u2019s campuses, you might have crossed paths with the nearly 30 students who have been given the means to pursue higher education because of the Cantors\u2019 generosity. Driving into the Storrs campus along Route 195, you\u2019ll be greeted by the gleaming UCONN sign that their generosity made possible. Listen closely to the marching band\u2019s next UConn Fight Song, and you\u2019ll hear the deep notes of the sousaphone they donated. And, step into the Cantors\u2019 home, surrounded by a wall\u2011to\u2011wall shrine to all things UConn, and it\u2019s clear this is a family whose Husky pride runs deep. Following the public launch of the Because of UConn campaign<\/a>, the couple recently deepened their impact by planning a $1 million legacy gift that will benefit UConn for years to come.<\/p>\n Shari turned a successful accounting career into a lifetime of public service. In addition to serving as mayor of West Hartford \u2014 New England\u2019s largest town \u2014 she serves on the UConn Board of Trustees and the Connecticut Children\u2019s Foundation board of directors. Michael, one of Hartford\u2019s most well-known lawyers, grew Cantor Colburn from a small intellectual property law firm into one of the top ten patent and trademark law firms in the country. A former member of the UConn Foundation Board of Directors who taught at the School of Law for 20 years, he now serves on the advisory boards for the College of Engineering and the School of Law. Dual members of the Because of UConn campaign committee and a Hartford Business Journal \u201cPower Couple,\u201d the Cantors are the second husband-and-wife team in UConn history to both be named to the UConn Hall of Fame \u2014 he in engineering, she in business.<\/p>\n \u201cShari and Michael\u2019s generosity extends far beyond their own philanthropy,\u201d says UConn Foundation President and CEO Amy Yancey. \u201cDespite busy lives serving Connecticut in their individual ways, from my first arrival at UConn they have always been the first to ask, \u2018How can we help?\u2019 I\u2019m so appreciative of their support of UConn, our students, and the Because of UConn Campaign. The Cantors truly bleed blue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShari and Michael embody what it means to be a lifelong Husky team,\u201d says Daniel D. Toscano \u201987 (BUS), UConn Board of Trustees chair and Because of UConn campaign co-chair. \u201cTheir leadership and generosity have touched every corner of UConn, and their planned gift brings their UConn legacy to new heights. It\u2019s been an honor to work alongside Shari on the Board of Trustees and to witness firsthand the passion and vision that she and Michael bring to everything they do for UConn.\u201d<\/p>\n Shari\u2019s UConn story began in West Hartford, where her parents \u2014 the children of Jewish immigrants \u2014 had four children in five years, all of whom became first-in-family college graduates from UConn.<\/p>\n When Shari entered the School of Business in the late \u201970s, only one in four students were women. Professors like Mo Hussein<\/a> helped ease her way, making accounting less daunting and encouraging students to bring their whole selves to the classroom.<\/p>\n Michael grew up in Ellington, in a family where money was tight. His parents encouraged him to attend UConn for its affordability. In the end, he only applied to one school.<\/p>\n He credits his experience as residential assistant in the North Campus dormitories, then known as \u201cthe Jungle,\u201d as helping give him the interpersonal and management skills needed to later lead a large law firm.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until Shari and Michael had both graduated UConn \u2014 she as an accounting major, him with an engineering degree and then a UConn Law degree \u2014 that they met at a local Jewish singles event called the \u201cMatzah Ball.\u201d Michael saw her from across the room and recognized her from campus. \u201cYou went to UConn, didn\u2019t you?\u201d were the first words he spoke to her.<\/p>\n UConn basketball and soccer games set the stage for their early relationship. As they started a young family, they hosted full-scale Husky watch parties, renting a fleet of televisions to place in every room so 100-plus guests could follow the game from any corner. Through the windows, guests could catch Michael sprinting outside during foul shots as superstition demanded.<\/p>\n Today, the Cantors have four sons, two of whom went to UConn. Season ticket holders for men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball, they travel for an away game every year, even when surrounded by thousands of rival fans, their sons hushing their cheers. Their family\u2019s Husky pride extends to Shari\u2019s mother, who remains standing for entire women\u2019s basketball games to keep losses at bay.<\/p>\n As the Cantors\u2019 careers and family flourished, so did their desire to give back to the institutions that shaped them. For more than two decades, the Cantors have championed UConn through their support, including for Build Hartford, scholarships for business, engineering, and law students, Hillel, and the Students First program, which provides emergency aid for students facing unexpected hardships.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to take a holistic approach,\u201d Shari says, \u201csupporting students in every way \u2014 whether it\u2019s a high-performing engineering student or an undergraduate who just needs a little help to stay on track.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStudents First is a program that really touches my heart,\u201d says Shari. \u201cMany students are hanging on by a thread financially, and they\u2019re one setback away from having to leave UConn \u2014 whether it\u2019s a car breaking down, a parent who falls ill, health care costs going up, or not being able to afford groceries. It means a lot to help get a student through a pivotal moment and help keep them on the path to graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael\u2019s role as board chair of the venture capital firm Connecticut Innovations gives him unique insight into how UConn drives economic development for the state and how, with more resources, UConn could fill the state\u2019s economic needs even more effectively. As Hartford-area leaders, the Cantors care deeply about UConn students and the local community. Working with the UConn Foundation and university partners, they helped design Build Hartford<\/a>, a UConn course that gives students hands-on experience working with Hartford-area startups, developing students\u2019 entrepreneurial skills while fostering economic development. The program just finished its fifth year.<\/p>\n Now, inspired by the ambitions of the Because of UConn campaign and their role in this historic fundraising initiative, the Cantors are thinking about their legacy with their planned gift commitment. Their involvements have given them insight into campus needs, and they see the importance of flexible funds that allow the university to respond where it matters most \u2014 as well as growing UConn\u2019s endowment so the university can \u201ccontrol its own destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n Whichever way the Cantors decide to make an impact through their most recent planned gift, it all comes back to the students.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m amazed at the students every single time I go on campus, how talented and smart they are,\u201d Shari says.<\/p>\n Michael agrees: \u201cUConn drives innovation and economic development for Connecticut. Supporting that mission means supporting the students who make it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shari Cantor \u201981 (BUS) and Michael Cantor \u201980 (ENG), \u201983 JD are turning decades of leadership and generosity into a lasting legacy through a $1 million planned gift commitment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":241028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,2472,2193,156,2235,2227,2234,70],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1902],"class_list":["post-241027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-gifts-donors","category-hartford-county","category-profile","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-life","category-video","post_format-post-format-video"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-10 22:44:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241027"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241135,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241027\/revisions\/241135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/241028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241027"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=241027"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=241027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}