gifts to bring renowned medical and law faculty to loyola
Rolf Gunnar, MD
Endowed professorships help attract some of the most highly regarded scholars to Loyola, enhancing the University’s reputation and enlivening research and teaching. Several recent gifts have made two prestigious endowed chairs possible.
Gifts totaling $2.75 million to create a new professorship in the Stritch School of Medicine (SSOM) will honor a retired cardiologist who was instrumental in guiding the department to its top-rated status.
The Rolf & Merian Gunnar Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), named in honor of the cardiologist and his late wife, was made possible by donations from The Arthur Foundation and Rolf Gunnar, MD. The future professor will be influential in the training of fellows, residents, and medical students, and is expected to conduct a vibrant clinical cardiac research program.
Gunnar joined Loyola in 1972 as chief of the division of cardiology and a professor of medicine. He headed cardiology for 10 years and served as chair of the department of medicine for nine years. He retired in 1991.
Although he is retired from medicine, Gunnar remains committed to Loyola. In 1975 he created the Geoffrey Gunnar Memorial Scholarship for third-year Stritch students in honor of his late son. “Stritch is a marvelous school, and I’m glad to remain active with the students.”
Loyola is adding $1 million to bring the fund total to $3.75 million. “The addition of a new cardiology professor will benefit the University, the health system and, ultimately, the patients,” says Michael Garanzini, S.J., University president. “The University is proud to have a part in establishing the Rolf & Merian Gunnar Professor of Medicine in Cardiology.”
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Mary (BA ‘53) and Ray Simon (BA ‘53, JD ‘56)
o honor the 20-year service of its recently retired president, Raymond F. Simon (BA ‘53, JD ‘56), the Helen V. Brach Foundation has established the Raymond and Mary Simon Chair in Constitutional Law at the School of Law. The law school will begin a national search later this year for a leading constitutional law scholar to assume the professorship in fall 2008.
“When you spend a lifetime being friends with an institution, you certainly want it to survive and thrive,” says Mr. Simon of the $1.5 million gift. “I’ve always found constitutional law to be the most significant and exciting area of law, and I look forward to the School of Law bringing in an exceptional mind that will have an impact on today’s constitutional issues.”
Raymond Simon, currently of counsel to the Chicago firm of Simon & Griseta, has had a distinguished career in the practice of law, including arguing cases before the United States Supreme Court and the Appellate and Supreme Courts of Illinois. During his 50 years of continuous practice in Chicago, he has served in prominent positions in both
government and the private sector.
“Receiving a gift establishing a faculty chair is one of the best things that can happen to a law school,” says School of Law Dean David Yellen. “Raymond Simon has had an extraordinary career as a lawyer, and we’re deeply honored to establish this chair, thanks to this generous gift from the Brach Foundation. The holder of this chair will be an important addition to our faculty and will enhance our reputation not only in Chicago, but around the entire country.”