Bequest reflects one man's belief in schools

Though he never went to school in town, the late Richard Burnham was always interested in helping Needham students. So it was no surprise to Burnham's daughter, Beverly Maeder, when she learned that after her father's death in 1996, at age 79, he left nearly half a million dollars to a handful of local groups, including the Needham Education Foundation.

''Certainly, education was important to him, and that is why he left money to several organizations that would help students," Maeder wrote in an e-mail from her office at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Burnham attended public schools in Brookline in the 1920s and hoped Needham could achieve the same level of excellence, Maeder wrote. He ran RD Burnham Real Estate Co. for nearly 45 years and was an active member of the Needham Rotary Club, the Congregational Church of Needham, and Town Meeting.

Maeder, Burnham's only child, attended the Needham public schools until seventh grade, when she moved on to the private Dana Hall School in Wellesley. The Needham Education Foundation learned of Burnham's largesse shortly before receiving a check for $150,000 from his estate in December, almost two years after the death of his second wife, Anna. The gift came ''out of the blue" and is the largest single donation and bequest ever given to the foundation in its 15 years, said Mimi Segel, NEF copresident.