Loyola University Chicago

After a lifetime of devotion to Loyola’s School of Law, Bernard J. Beazley (LLB ’50) has once again chosen the school as a beneficiary of his generosity. To honor his wife, Kathie, Beazley has given $2 million to fully endow a new chair in her name—the A. Kathleen Beazley Chair in Child Law.

“We were blessed with a large family and share a mutual interest in doing things for younger children,” says Mr. Beazley, a member of the University’s Board of Trustees. “The idea of endowing a chair in Kathie’s name came to mind very quickly. In addition to our nine children, she was also a surrogate mother to a number of neighborhood kids.”

Mr. Beazley is the former general counsel and senior vice president of Dentsply International, one of the largest manufacturers of professional care dental products in the world. He has served on Loyola’s President’s Advisory Council and is a current member of the Loyola University Chicago Society of the Shield, the University’s planned giving society.

“There is no better program of its kind in the country for studying and advocating for the legal rights of children.” - David Yellen, JD, dean

Professor Diane Geraghty, director of Loyola’s Civitas ChildLaw Center, has been named the first A. Kathleen Beazley Chair in Child Law. Geraghty has been a member of the Loyola law faculty since 1977 and was the first to develop the nationally ranked ChildLaw Center. She also served as interim dean of the law school and is on the board of directors of Maryville Academy, the largest residential child-care facility in Illinois. Her work also includes leading research and policy efforts on behalf of the MacArthur Foundation and UNICEF.

Mr. Beazley and his wife, Kathleen, are some of the largest donors to Loyola’s School of Law, having supported many programs over the years, including donating the largest single gift to the law school with $5 million to expand the nationally ranked Institute for Health Law, which now bears his name.

“Bernie is in the process of assisting in the transformation of the law school,” says David Yellen, dean of Loyola’s School of Law. “His endowment of the Institute for Health Law was overwhelming, and now, to make another gift of this magnitude to the Civitas ChildLaw Center is remarkable. It is a very meaningful way to honor his wife and will ensure her name will forever be associated with helping children.”