Father James A. Fogarty, C.S.C., died on July 7, 1965, at age 66. He had served at the University from 1926 to 1964 as a professor of economics and was still living in Christie Hall at the time of his death. Some years earlier he had established, from his personal patrimony and from other gifts, a fund to be used for the building of a chapel at the University. There had long been chapels in buildings such as West (now Waldschmidt) Hall, Christie Hall, the old Commons (now St. Mary’s Student Center) but never a stand-alone building designed exclusively as a chapel. It was his idea that the proper investment of even a small fund could in time grow to sufficient size and value to make the construction of a chapel possible. His dream was realized in 1986 when his successor as trustee of the fund, Fr. James Anderson, C.S.C., laid before University president Fr. Thomas Oddo, C.S.C., an account of the fund’s value in excess of $600,000. Shortly thereafter, the board of regents authorized the building of the Chapel of Christ the Teacher.
For more University history from this week, see the University Almanac at www.up.edu/almanac.