Honorees-
Lucy Flemming & John P. McGrath

Time and again philanthropist Lucy Flemming McGrath has generously committed herself to Long Island University. Her ties to the institution date back to 1943 when her husband, John P. McGrath, joined the University’s board of trustees. A partner with Reavis & McGrath law firm and chairman of the East New York Savings Bank, he assumed the chairmanship of the University’s board in 1967, serving in that capacity until 1974.

Mr. McGrath remained a trustee until his death in 1989. Since then, Mrs. McGrath has maintained a close relationship with the University. In 1997, she made a gift to build John P. and Lucy Flemming McGrath House, residence of the University’s president. She also has established a scholarship-in-perpetuity in her husband’s memory. Mrs. McGrath serves as the honorary chair for the University’s John McGrath Memorial Dinner, a fund-raiser for the Brooklyn Campus.

Mrs. McGrath has a long and generous history of philanthropy and volunteerism. Her first chairmanship, at age 17, was with St. John’s University Junior Auxiliary. Today, Long Island University is not the only beneficiary of Mrs. McGrath’s good works; she is involved with a wide range of causes. Mrs. McGrath is an adjunct to the permanent mission of the Vatican in the United States for which His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, created her a dame of St. Gregory. In further recognition of her years of service with the Friends and Patrons of Vatican Museums, His Holiness awarded her the Canova Medal.

She serves on the boards of the Path to Peace Foundation and the Healthcare Chaplaincy. Mrs. McGrath is a member of the executive committee of the Catholic Big Sisters and a lady commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1999, Cardinal O’Connor appointed Dame Lucy McGrath chairperson of the founding pro-life committee of the Knights and Dames of Malta.

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