Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ University received a $1.25 million bequest from the estate of the Honorable Maryanne Trump Barry earlier this year. A longtime supporter of the University, Judge Barry was a devoted advocate for Jesuit education and Ignatian spirituality. She passed away on November 13, 2023.
In keeping with her wishes, the $1.25 million gift from Judge Barry’s estate has been distributed among three programs: $750,000 in support of the Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ Bellarmine two-year associate’s degree program, representing her belief that Jesuit education should be accessible to first-generation college families, new immigrants, and groups chronically underserved; and $250,000 each allocated to Campus Ministry and the Murphy Center for Ignatian Spirituality, addressing her wish to hand on faith and accompany young people in their search for meaning and hope.
Judge Barry served on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal appellate court located in Philadelphia, Pa., from 1999 until her retirement in 2019. Her relationship with the University spanned decades and reflected her appreciation for the values that define a Jesuit education: intellectual excellence, service to others, and the formation of conscience and character.
In 2011, the distinguished federal judge was Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾’s Commencement Speaker and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of her exemplary service in the judiciary and her lifelong commitment to education. In her address to the graduating students and their families, Judge Barry shared that she was the first in her family to attend college. A full-time mother for 13 years before returning to school for her law degree, she described her first job out of law school “as one of two women assistant U.S. attorneys in an office of 62 assistant U.S. attorneys.”
Stressing “the critical importance of integrity” and of “good old-fashioned hard work,” Judge Barry shared with the Class of 2011 “what I believe is probably the most important thing I can tell you, at least it is to me: To whom much is given, much is required…. No exercise is better for the heart, it is said, than reaching down to lift up another person.”
“She never forgot her family’s humble, immigrant origins, and was a tireless advocate of integrity and fairness in the administration of justice and in all public life,” said University Trustee Rev. Gerry Blaszczak, S.J., who formerly served as assistant to the president and alumni chaplain at Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾. “Judge Barry loved her family, cared deeply for her colleagues on the bench, and was loyal and supportive to those whom she counted as friends, and I was blessed to be one.”
