Thomas Aquinas College Receives
$2 Million Grant from Dan Murphy Foundationin Honor of Late President
(December 23, 2009)
SANTA PAULA, CA-December 23, 2009-President-elect Dr. Michael
F. McLean has announced that the Dan Murphy Foundation of Los Angeles
had approved at its December 1st meeting a grant of
$2 million to Thomas Aquinas College in honor of the school's late
president, Dr. Thomas E. Dillon, who was killed in an automobile
accident last spring. Said Richard A. Grant, President of the Dan
Murphy Foundation, "The Trustees of the Dan Murphy Foundation
are pleased to make this contribution in memory of Dr. Dillon, in
recognition of his great achievements on behalf of Thomas Aquinas
College."
Dr. McLean explained further, "This magnificent grant is being
made as a lead gift to the college's new capital campaign, the goal
of which is to complete all of the funding for Our Lady of the Most
Holy Trinity Chapel. That was a project dear to Tom's heart, and
we are so grateful the Dan Murphy Foundation has chosen to honor
him in this way."
According to Vice President for Development John Quincy Masteller,
the $7 million capital campaign will be 18 months in duration, concluding
on June 30, 2011. "During that time, officials of the college plan
to approach old friends and new," he explained, "seeking
major gifts for the chapel project." When finished, the entire
chapel project, including related infrastructure and road, will
have been completed.
Said Richard Grant, "It is hoped the Foundation's grant will
be an impetus to complete the College's capital campaign as a tribute
to Dr. Dillon's tireless efforts in building the Thomas Aquinas
campus. This beautiful chapel exemplifies Tom Dillon's devotion
to the Roman Catholic Church and Thomas Aquinas College."
Noting that Dr. Dillon's successor has now been chosen, Mr. Grant
added, "The Foundation's trustees make the contribution in
the confidence that Thomas Aquinas College, under the leadership
of Dr. Michael McLean, will attain new levels of academic excellence
as an institution devoted to Catholic liberal education."
For more information and to view photographs of Our Lady of the
Most Holy Trinity Chapel, visit the college's website at:
http://thomasaquinas.edu/development/campaign/chapel/name.html
ABOUT THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE
Named a 2010 "Best Value" college by The Princeton Reivew
and Kiplinger's, Thomas Aquinas College is a four-year, co-educational,
Catholic liberal arts college with a fully-integrated curriculum
composed exclusively of the Great Books, the seminal works in the
major disciplines by the great thinkers who have helped shape Western
civilization. There are no textbooks, no lectures and no electives.
Instead, under the guidance of faculty members and using only the
Socratic method of dialogue in classes of no more than 20, students
read and discuss the original works of authors such as Euclid, Dante,
Galileo, Descartes, the American Founding Fathers, Adam Smith, Shakespeare,
Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Einstein, Aristotle, Plato, St. Augustine,
and of course, St. Thomas Aquinas. Alumni consistently excel in
the many world-class institutions at which they pursue graduate
degrees in fields such as law, medicine, business, theology and
education. They have distinguished themselves serving as lawyers,
doctors, business owners, priests, military service men and women,
educators, journalists and college presidents.
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