A generous donation for animal services

A posthumous donation of nearly $195,000 from a local man went to Carson City Animal Services Tuesday in the form of a check that represented most of his estate.

The donor, who died in his 80s of cancer, was George Teixeira, who moved here from California nine years ago. A check for $194,984 was presented to Shadow Kelly, animal services supervisor, by KayCee Zusman, who is with Fiduciary Services of Nevada. Zusman said the animal services facility took care of most of Teixeira’s cats when he had to leave home for cancer care prior to his death.

“These people were wonderful to him,” said Zusman. “They took care of his animals.”

Zusman is a guardian, but wasn’t acting in that capacity in this case. “I was his power of attorney,” Zusman said. She said she brought in a lawyer at Teixeira’s request to help him draw up his will.

Teixeira was allowed to keep one cat when he moved from his home into a health care facility. That one, named Big Mama, will continue being taken care of through a small trust, according to Zusman.

Kelly, after accepting the check, said her understanding was the money would be used for animal medical needs but referred all questions on that to the city’s animal services manager or director of health and human services.

Nicki Aaker, the HHS director, later said half the money would go for animal medical needs and half would go into a fund designated gifts and donations, which can be used for the same purpose but isn’t restricted to that. Consequently, it also may be used for food or related facility expenses.

Aaker said it wouldn’t wind up as part of the private sector fund raising effort to help the city build a new animal services building. Aaker said she previously knew the donation was imminent.

“We were really surprised, pleasantly surprised,” she said, expressing gratitude for Teixeira’s gift.