An $11 million posthumous gift from a former Villanova University student will fund a senior citizen enrichment program, an endowed chair in Italian Studies and an expansion of the campus library, writes Ryan Mulligan for Philadelphia Business Journal.
The money comes from the estate of the late Bernard John Lucci of Montgomery County.
Lucci took classes at Villanova through a Senior Citizen Personal Enrichment Program in the College of Professional Studies.
Some of Lucci’s gift, $5 million, will go to the enrichment program which is being renamed the Bernard John Lucci Senior Citizen Personal Enrichment Program.
Part of the donation will go toward an endowed chair in Italian Studies at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Art history professor Timothy McCall will be the inaugural Lucci Chair.
The gift will also support the ongoing $150 million expansion project at Falvey Library in Vic Maggitti Hall.
The new 150,000 square-foot library will include the Bernard John Lucci Doctoral and Graduate Office Suite in honor of Lucci’s gift.
Lucci took personal enrichment classes at Villanova between 2005 and 2012 on Italian culture and language.
He died at age 86 in March 2023. The Villanova gift represents 20 percent of his estate.
Find out more about Bernard John Lucci in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
