Michael Grace has served as an intellectual property and trial attorney for over 35 years and now is a member of the Sovereign Council of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a religious order and subject of international law in Rome, where he serves as Coordinator of the Second Class (Members in Obedience) and as President of the Commission on Names and Emblems.
Having himself received a B.A. with high honors from a great books program at James Madison College of Michigan State University, Mr. Grace says, “It is plain to me that an education based on the great books is an education for life, and that a technical education should be built on a liberal arts foundation.”
Mr. Grace also holds an M.A. in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, a J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, and a Certificat de Relations Internationales with honors in comparative law from the Université de Dijon in France.
Mr. Grace is a member of the Board of Directors of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem (the Knights of Malta) Western Association U.S.A. and chairs its Membership Committee. He is also actively involved as a board member of the Passionist Retreat Center.
Mr. Grace sees his role as a member of the Board of Governors of Thomas Aquinas College as a unique opportunity to help others. “Call it leverage,” he says. “There are many opportunities to help worthy charities with one’s time and money.… Thomas Aquinas College’s graduates receive a rigorous education in the things most worth knowing, including the importance of charity. By making a commitment to Thomas Aquinas College now, in a small way I’m helping out all of those charities in which the College’s graduates will serve for years to come.”
Michael’s wife, Cecelia, is also a partner at Grace & Grace; they reside with their three sons and one daughter in Pasadena, California.