Strumming his guitar in the M&M Residence Hall Lounge in 1976, Weston Hicks '79 was "trying to attract freshman women," his wife, Ann '80, says with a laugh.
They locked eyes across the room — but nothing came of it.
"I had a boyfriend," Ann says. "Weston went his way, and I went mine."
A couple of years later, the two remembered that moment when Weston became Ann's teaching assistant. While she was working on a paper in Linderman Library, he kept stopping by with the same question: "Do you need help with your paper?"
Ann smiles. "The rest is history."
That chance encounter led not only to a long and happy marriage, but also to a gift that will help future Lehigh students write their own stories.
Finding Roots at Lehigh
Although Ann and Weston both graduated from the College of Business, their journeys to South Mountain couldn't have been more different.
Growing up in New Jersey, Ann knew Lehigh was the right fit. She was a member of the fifth class of women at Lehigh, when men outnumbered them by roughly 5 to 1.
Weston, meanwhile, spent his childhood moving around the world as his father's career in an oil-related business took the family from Oklahoma and Texas to California, Holland, and Belgium.
"I had no roots at all," he says.
He began college at UC Irvine but found himself lost among enormous lecture halls and limited interaction with professors.
"It was the opposite of the more personal education you get at Lehigh."
After his parents relocated to New Jersey, a friend recommended Lehigh, and Weston transferred as a sophomore. Although joining an established second-year class wasn't easy, he soon found his place.
As a business and economic major — and guitarist in The Zane Grey band, a favorite at fraternity parties — Weston found both the academic rigor and personal touch he had been looking for.
"It was a great foundation for my career," he says, “and gave me the practical skills I needed.”
For Ann and Weston alike, Lehigh provided more than an education. It offered community, confidence, and ultimately, each other.
Taking the Leap
Open to adventure and new experiences, the young couple embraced opportunities wherever they found them.
When they were both working in San Francisco in the early 1980s, one of those moments came with an unexpected invitation.
Bank of America approached Weston about relocating to London. While Ann loved her job at Clorox, neither of them hesitated for long to say “yes.”
"It was a magical time for us," Weston recalls.
Ann joined the advertising agency Grey in London while Weston immersed himself in banking and finance, experiences that shaped the rest of his career.
Looking back, they see that move as the first of many moments when they chose a calculated risk over certainty.
"We've learned that you have to be willing to take the leap," Ann says. "You never know where it might lead."
After returning to the States, Weston eventually earned his Chartered Financial Analyst designation. His career would take him from banking to Wall Street before serving as CFO of The Chubb Corporation and later CEO of Alleghany Corporation for almost two decades.
Even as his career progressed, Weston never forgot where it began. At Alleghany, he made a point of recruiting Lehigh students, believing the education that had prepared him so well had done the same for others.
Ann was exploring how to turn her passion for social justice into a career. With the addition of sons Zachary and Jasper to their family, she returned to school to earn her master's degree in social work at NYU in addition to the MBA she had previously earned there.
Life Doesn't Move in Straight Lines
"Everyone wants to graduate and follow their passion," Ann says. "But you need to experience things to understand what that truly is."
For the Hickses, success has never been about following a perfectly mapped-out plan.
While working in London, Weston remembers a manager encouraging him to stay open to opportunities rather than trying to map out every step of his career. The advice stuck with him.
"You have to be able to zig and zag," Ann adds.
One self-reflection exercise Weston recommends is the Japanese concept of "ikigai," or "a reason for being." It encourages people to consider what they love, what they're good at, what the world needs, and what they can be paid for.
"The overlap," Weston says, "is what you should pursue."
The same openness to unexpected possibilities would eventually shape the couple's philanthropy.
Opportunity for the Next Generation
After Ann underwent cancer treatment at Weill Cornell Medicine, she and Weston wanted to thank her physician by supporting her research. During that process, they learned about a program to sponsor a first-generation student at New York University.
Watching that student's journey inspired them.
"We wanted to do the same thing at Lehigh," Weston says.
Their $1.6 million endowed scholarship, beginning in 2026–27, will provide full tuition, room, and board for need-based students. Additional gifts to the Center for Access and Success and the Lehigh Fund will help ensure recipients can fully participate in campus life.
"The wrap-around support offered by the Center really appealed to us," Weston says.
For the Hickses, college is about more than paying tuition. It's about belonging, building community, discovering new adventures, and finding your place.
"This kind of giving is transformational in a person's life," Ann says. "It's great for the students, but it's also transformative for us."
Full Circle
When Ann and Weston first exchanged that brief glance at M&M Residence Hall nearly 50 years ago, neither could have imagined where life would lead.
Lehigh prepared them. Life surprised them. Opportunity shaped them. Now they're ensuring future generations of students can follow their own unexpected paths.
"Education can change a person," Ann says. "It can change a family. It can change a destiny."
