30 Years of Blessings Celebrated
– $75 Million Comprehensive Campaign Announced
at Anniversary Gala
(October 1, 2001)
Eight hundred friends, alumni, and benefactors from across
the country gathered on September 29th to commemorate the
founding of Thomas Aquinas College and to celebrate its thirty
years of Catholic liberal education. The event - a black tie
dinner gala at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly
Hills - was embellished by the announcement of plans to raise
$75 million in a comprehensive campaign to finish building
the campus and to fulfill all scholarship and endowment needs.
The campaign received a huge boost and the assembled guests
rose in a standing ovation when Sir Daniel Donohue announced
on behalf of The Dan Murphy Foundation the lead gift of $10
million.
"We're profoundly grateful to The Dan Murphy
Foundation for this magnificent gift, and to all our friends
and benefactors who are making this campaign possible,"
said President Thomas E. Dillon. By September 29th, nearly
half of the $75 million had already been secured in gifts
and pledges, according to Vice-President for Development John
Q. Masteller.
The College moved from the Malibu Hills area to the Ferndale
Ranch near Santa Paula in 1978 and began building a permanent
campus. A master building plan was established and eight permanent
buildings have already been completed under that plan. Funds
from the campaign will be used to build the remaining seven
buildings: a chapel, a classroom building, a gymnasium, an
auditorium, an administration building, and residence halls
for men and women.
The facilities will allow the College to grow to its maximum
size of 350 students - a number fixed with the intention of
maintaining a small community atmosphere in which a classical
curriculum would thrive. Currently, 301 students are enrolled
in the College from 36 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, China,
and Kenya.
Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, served as
the Honorary Chairman for the event, presided over a Mass
of Thanksgiving earlier in the day at St. Victor's parish
in Hollywood, and gave the opening Invocation at the dinner.
Denver's Archbishop Charles Chaput gave the keynote dinner
address, filling in for Wall Street Journal contributing editor
Peggy Noonan. Mrs. Noonan was unable to attend the gala after
the tragedy in New York. ABC7s Business Correspondent, Jim
Newman, served as Master of Ceremonies.
Announcing the College's comprehensive campaign were co-chairmen,
Honorable William P. Clark and Maria O. Grant. Judge Clark
served on the California Supreme Court and was Ronald Reagan's
Secretary of Interior and National Security Advisor. Mrs.
Grant is an Overseer of the Huntington Library.
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