DeBartolos to Donate $33 Million to Notre Dame
A shopping center developer and his son, both graduates of Notre Dame, will give the school one of the largest donations ever bestowed on an American university, the university announced.
Developers Edward J. DeBartolo and Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. will donate $33 million for construction of a campus quadrangle that will include a classroom building and a performing arts center.
“We hope that the thousands of students who follow us will benefit from the enhancement of the quality of educational opportunities at Notre Dame,” said the elder DeBartolo.
DeBartolo is founder of the Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio. His son is he company’s chief administrative officer. The corporation is one of the nation’s largest developers of commercial and office property and owns three shopping centers in Indianapolis -- Castleton Square, Washington Square and Lafayette Square.
The younger DeBartolo owns the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
“Our family style and the success of our family really stems from being involved in the University of Notre Dame,” said the elder DeBartolo.
The contribution will underwrite the $14 million Marie P. DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts, named for the senior DeBartolo’s wife, who died in 1987. The Edward J. DeBartolo Classroom Facility will cost an estimated $16 million. The balance will pay for development of a quadrangle near the main entrance on the south edge of the campus.
“It was particularly gratifying that they were interested in promoting the academic development of the university,” said Notre Dame president Edward A. Malloy.
Notre Dame board president Donald R. Keough, president of Coca-Cola Co. Inc., said the construction projects were slated for completion in 1992, in time for the 150th anniversary of the university’s founding.
The gift ranks as the 18th largest ever given to an American university, according to data provided by Notre Dame from The Chronicle for Higher Education. The largest gift was $105 million given to Emory University in 1979.
The gift is the largest contribution even given Notre Dame and the largest ever received by a college in Indiana.
