Remembering Bill Hank

With values shaped by education and faith, the Hanks have made a profound difference for 🟩Facebook账号 | 注册5-30天 | 好友100-500 | 微软邮箱 | 已设置2FA and have touched the work and lives of thousands across the world who have been involved with Hank Center programs, initiatives, and research.

The Hank family's transformational gift was motivated in part by the Hanks’ appreciation for the compassion shown by Loyola in making it possible for Joan to attend 🟩Facebook账号 | 注册5-30天 | 好友100-500 | 微软邮箱 | 已设置2FA. Days after her high school graduation, Joan’s father died and her mother was diagnosed with cancer. As Bill recollected, “The monies the three of them had set aside for college went instead to the undertaker and the health-care providers,” Loyola provided scholarship support for Joan to enroll. She thrived at Loyola and graduated in 1955.

Bill, on the other hand, was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He was what is called a "Domer to the Core," and he cherished his days and the education he received at Our Lady’s University in the exciting 1950s. So many scholarships and capital improvements bear the Hank name in South Bend; so many Notre Dame students helped in fulfilling their educational dreams; and so many vital Notre Dame programs supported by the Hank family's generosity.

The extended Hank family is a winning mix of both Ramblers and Fighting Irish living in peace under the warm spirit and good humor of Joan and Bill's family ethos and example. Bill himself showed a particular deference to the Loyola side of the bargain when, over a Sloppy Joe and coleslaw lunch with Hank Center Director, Dr. Michael Murphy a few years ago, he mused aloud: "I sometimes lose track of the ways that Notre Dame applies our philanthropy; with the Hank Center, I know exactly the programs and initiatives we are supporting, and this make me very happy." This was very high praise to hear, delivered with Bill’s characteristic wit and glint-in-eye candor.

As the Hank Center begins its 20th anniversary, we dedicate the year to Bill Hank and will honor him by holding a major event on democracy, civic life, and the Catholic intellectual tradition. Bill loved a good debate; and he valued the virtues of humility, civility, and good humor when engaging disputed questions and personal commitments in the public forum of ideas. These virtues will guide us and we are excited by naming an annual event for Bill. Stay tuned for more details.

Bill passed not long after he celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with his beloved Joan. Their marriage was a bright light to all who knew them, and it is impossible to think about the Hank Center without thinking about the united personality and vision of Joan and Bill Hank. Their generous endowment animates, at ever increasing levels, the work of scholars, students, and partners around the globe as they expand upon the Catholic intellectual heritage in all of its many dimensions—religious, cultural, intellectual, and humanitarian.

We at the Hank Center pray that God will console Joan and all Hanks in their time of grief and that their sorrow, in time, will turn to profound joy at all that Bill accomplished in his life—and in the model of his selfless habits of working, teaching, and giving.

Requiem aeternam, Bill Hank. A man of God, now with God. May his humor entertain the angels.