Late Counselor, Instructor Donates $1.8 Million to Bellevue College Foundation  

Thousands of Bellevue College students will benefit from $1.8 million bequeathed to the Bellevue College Foundation by the late Daniel J. LaFond, a former instructor and counselor, who passed in October 2024. 

The endowed scholarship is available for students who are interested in pursuing a career in alcohol and drug counseling, social work, or the welfare sector. 

“It’s not every day a gift of this magnitude comes, especially from a former Bellevue College employee,” Bellevue College President David May said. “Mr. LaFond’s gift is a part of his legacy of supporting students here at Bellevue College. He is an example of consistency, dependability, and deep generosity. People like him remind us of what makes Bellevue College such a special place.”  

Having established the Daniel J. and Clare LaFond Scholarship with his wife in 2013, the LaFonds’ philanthropic endeavors have already impacted countless students’ lives by providing financial support for those in need of help paying for college. 

“He really valued education,” Gillian LaFond, Mr. LaFond’s daughter, said. “He felt very strongly about education and was a strong believer in education and supporting it.” 

In addition to student scholarships, some of the LaFonds’ earlier donations helped support Bellevue College’s Veterans Resource Center, the Center for Students with Disabilities, the Early Learning Center, Multicultural Services, and KBCS 91.3 FM, the college’s radio station.  

Mr. LaFond’s service to students goes beyond helping them pay for their studies or supporting programs, however. For 35 years, Mr. LaFond helped students cultivate a passion for education as he taught and counseled them before retiring from Bellevue College in 2003.  

“He really loved students,” Clare LaFond, his wife of 13 years, said. “He taught classes on career planning, and throughout his life, whenever he met anybody, he’d start interviewing them. Who were they? How did they choose their career path? People would open up to him, naturally.” 

Mr. LaFond was Bellevue College’s chair of the social/human services program and led the Counseling Center. He was initially hired as an adjunct faculty member at Bellevue College in 1970 in the Social Science Division, teaching his first class in spring of 1971. He then became a full-time faculty member in 1974, launching a new Gerontology program and an orientation for “New Career” students in the division. He would go on to become a counselor in 1992, a tenured instructor in 1998, and a tenured counselor and instructor in 1999.  

Throughout his time, he taught classes in social welfare, human services, criminal theories, correction counseling on probation and parole, perspectives on aging, and career program coordination and management.  

“He was a natural teacher, instructor, and counselor,” Clare LaFond said. “But first and foremost, he was an amazing listener and listened to what people had to say.” 

Prior to teaching at Bellevue College, Mr. LaFond was in the military and worked in state corrections. After graduating from high school, he joined the US Navy in 1960, serving for two years on a troop transport ship traveling between Seattle and Japan, and working at the US Marine Hospital. Mr. LaFond would then go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology from St. Martin’s College in Olympia and a master’s degree in social work from University of Washington in Seattle, graduating in the mid-to-late 1960s.  

Mr. LaFond then became a Washington State Department of Corrections probation officer at McNeil Island Corrections Center in Pierce County, providing counseling to the general prison population.  

“From there, he got very interested in counseling and listening to people’s problems and challenges,” Clare LaFond said. “I think it shaped who he became as a social worker and a counselor.” 

Outside of counseling and education, Mr. LaFond was innately curious, loved to travel and sail the sea, and had an affinity for dancing to blues music. Gillian LaFond recalls his thirst for information and quick wit in a debate. But, above all, he deeply cared about people. 

“While my dad had a pretty big personality – he did like to be the center of attention, I’ll give him that – there were certain things he was quiet about,” Gillian LaFond said. “And his philanthropy and his generosity were things that he was fairly quiet about.” 

In addition to Bellevue College’s bequest, Mr. LaFond also donated to both St. Martin’s University and the University of Washington School of Social Work. The Daniel J. and Clare LaFond Scholarship at Bellevue College is designed to support Bellevue College students pursuing a career in the helping professions of alcohol and drug counseling or social work and welfare. The scholarship is in memory of Wilfred L. and Norma P. LaFond. 

For more information about the Bellevue College Foundation’s scholarship program, email foundation@bellevuecollege.edu