Theodore Hesburgh

He resided in Notre Dame Campus. He had a private office on the thirteenth floor with the Olympic Torch from the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

The library in the University of Notre Dame which first opened on September 16, 1963 was renamed after Father Hesburgh in 1987.

Theodore Hesburgh died on February 26, 2015, at the age of 97 at Notre Dame, Indiana, United States.

Theodore Hesburgh was born to Anne Murphy and Theodore Bernard Hesburgh in Syracuse, New York. He had four siblings, including one brother and three sisters.

In 1934, he was enrolled at Notre Dame. However, three years later, he was sent to Italy by his seminary. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Gregorian University in 1939.

Due to the outbreak of World War II, he returned to Notre Dame and was ordained as a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross at Sacred Heart Church in 1943.

Though he volunteered to render his service at the military chaplain, he was instead transferred to the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, from where he received a Doctorate degree in Sacred Theology in 1945.

Completing his doctorate degree, he took up a teaching position in the Department of Religion at the University. In 1948, he was made head of the Department of Theology.

The following year, he was appointed to the post of the executive vice president at the University, which he served for three years. He gave up the position in 1952 to assume the responsibilities of the President of Notre Dame, thus becoming the 15thby rank and order.

During his term as the President of Notre Dame, he brought about numerous changes in the day to day working of the university to make it at par with the world’s best educational institutes.

He not only doubled the operating budget of the university, but raised the endowment and research funding by 40 and 20 per cent respectively. The massive increase led to doubling in the numbers of enrolment and degrees awarded.

In 1957, he was appointed to serve as the member of the United States Civil Rights Commission. In 1967, he was promoted to the rank of Chairman which he held for five years until his dismissal by the US President Richard Nixon in 1972.

In 1961, he was elected as the Honorary member of the Austrian catholic fraternity K�HV Alpenland.

In 1964, he was conferred with the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom by then President Lyndon Johnson.

In 1970, he was bestowed with the Meikle John Award by the American Association of University Professors.

In 1976, he was the recipient of the annual Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, by Jefferson Awards

In 1984, the National Academy of Sciences bestowed upon him the Public Welfare Medal.