Casters, A-1 Self Storage, Make Extraordinary Gift
in Honor of Msgr. Gallagher

One day last December, the College’s director of gift planning, Tom Susanka, received a telephone call from a longtime, generous benefactor of the College, Terrence Caster of San Diego, California. “Mr. Caster seemed astonished by something he had read in the Fall 2014 Newsletter,” Mr. Susanka recalls — namely, that the College must raise $4 million each year to meet students’ financial aid needs. He wanted to help.

He was also astonished that the College has kept tuition and room and board costs so affordably low by comparison with the costs of most other institutions. “May I send my 40 grandchildren to you?” Mr. Caster teased. “What’s your average financial aid package?”

Mr. Caster and his wife, Barbara, then revealed their decision to make an extraordinary gift: $100,000 for financial aid in 2015 with the strong possibility of similar gifts in the coming years.

Monsignor Gallagher

“We were introduced to Thomas Aquinas College back in the 1970s by its first chaplain, our good friend Msgr. John Gallagher,” recalls Mr. Caster. In 1982 the beloved priest invited the couple to campus to see that year’s Commencement Speaker, Bl. Mother Teresa. “Monsignor had a passion for the College and its mission, which he quickly passed on to us,” recalls Mr. Caster. “We began supporting the College right away.”

The owners of one of California’s oldest self-storage companies, A-1 Self Storage, the Casters maintain a family charitable foundation that underwrites more than 80 healthcare, educational, and social-service organizations throughout California, the United States, and the world. In 1978 they became one of the earliest members of the College’s then-nascent President’s Council, an organization of some 350 benefactors who give at least $1,000 annually for student scholarships. Nearly four decades later, the Casters are among the Council’s longest-serving members, having contributed faithfully to the College ever since.

As 2014 came to an end, Mr. and Mrs. Caster accelerated their giving to Thomas Aquinas College. “When we learned that the College must come up with $4 million every year to meet the financial aid needs of its students, we decided to deepen our investment,” Mr. Caster explains. “We want to help make this unique form of Catholic liberal education available to as many students as possible.”

Legacy Gift

Planning for their philanthropy to endure even after they have passed away, the Casters are establishing a trust that will continue to make charitable gifts for many years to come. Generously, Mr. and Mrs. Caster have selected Thomas Aquinas College as one of the trust’s beneficiaries. Their initial gift of $100,000 to the College’s annual fund is roughly the amount needed to provide financial assistance for 10 students. “We’re doing this,” says Mr. Caster “to honor Msgr. Gallagher.”

Mr. Susanka speculates that Thomas Aquinas College’s first chaplain must be pleased. “I think it would delight Monsignor to know that his friends are giving so generously to the College he loved so much,” he says. “It is amazing to think that, for years to come, students at the College will benefit from Monsignor’s intercession — both in his earthly life and, quite possibly, beyond — as well as from the Casters’ philanthropy in his name.”