SALEM — The Connell family, which has a long legacy of supporting St. Mary’s started by its late patriarch, was honored with the Cardinal Cushing Award Wednesday in a reception at the Peabody Essex Museum.
The Cushing Award is presented by the school to vigorous champions of Catholic education whose personal and professional lives mirror St. Mary’s mission.
Also at the Cushing Society Reception, Peter Lynch was presented the William F. Connell ’55 Service Award, given to an individual who provides consistent and exemplary service.
After the presentation of the awards, St. Mary’s Head of School Dr. John F. Dolan announced two major gifts — $1 million from the Connell family and $500,000 from Thomas and Marill Demakes — resulting in the $2 million raised making this year’s Cushing Society Reception the single biggest fundraising event in the 142-year history of the school.
“We are so blessed to benefit from the long-standing and amazing generosity of people like the Connells, Peter Lynch, and Tom and Marill Demakes,” Dolan said. “We are achieving great things at St. Mary’s thanks to them and all those who support our mission.”
The Cushing Society Reception included singing by the St. Mary’s Choir; Tim Connell performing “The Story of My Dad,” a song he wrote as a tribute to his father; remarks by senior Cierra Johnson, who spoke about how well St. Mary’s prepares students for college; and video presentations highlighting the honorees.
“I really believe Bill is our guardian angel,” Dolan said. “And I don’t know of anybody who has impacted Catholic education more than Peter Lynch.”
Mentioned more than once during the program were the three tenets by which Bill Connell lived: “Go to Mass. Do your best. Be a good person.”
Board Chair William Mosakowski said events such as the Cushing Society Reception allow the school to “give access to kids who wouldn’t otherwise be receiving the tremendous education they are receiving at St. Mary’s.”
William F. Connell, St. Mary’s Class of 1955, gave St. Mary’s $1 million in 1989 when the school was in danger of closing. He bequeathed a $5 million gift, one of the most transformational moments in the school’s history and the foundation for the Ours is to Build campaign that resulted in the construction of the Connell Center. While becoming one of the most successful businessmen in the country, he was always true to his West Lynn and St. Mary’s roots.
After Connell passed away in 2001, it was up to his wife, Margot Connell, and their six children to carry on his philanthropic work. The Connells have remained loyal and generous supporters of St. Mary’s, investing not only financially but also with their time.
A member of the advisory board of Connell Limited Partnership, Margot Connell has been a long-time advocate and supporter of education and health-care causes. She was the principal benefactor of the Margot Connell Recreation Center at Boston College, where the School of Nursing is named for Bill Connell, a 1959 graduate. She received an honorary degree from BC in 2009.
Monica (Connell) Healey, a graduate of the Parsons School of Design, is a former member of the St. Mary’s Board of Trustees. She and her husband, Tom Healey, live in Beverly. Lisa (Connell) McNamara is a registered nurse and lives in Lexington with her husband, John McNamara. They have four children. Courtenay Connell, who studied at the Boston School of Design, lives in New York. William Connell Jr., a graduate of Harvard Business School, is partner at High Road Capital Partners in New York. He lives in Greenwich, Conn. with his two children. Terence Connell, also an HBS graduate, is managing director at Connell Limited Partnership. He lives in Boston with his wife, Veronica, and their two children. Timothy Connell graduated from Boston College Law School and studied at Berklee College of Music. He and his wife, Mary Claire, live in Illinois with their two children.
Lynch has been the driving force behind the Catholic Schools Foundation since its inception. For more than three decades, the foundation has helped families in need send their children to Catholic schools by providing scholarships. In addition to donating more than $10 million himself, Lynch has helped the CSF raise more than $115 million for 90,000 students.
Support from the Lynch Foundation has allowed St. Mary’s to provide scholarships targeted to Latino students, resulting in the percentage of Latino students increasing from 4 to 23. Grade 6-12 enrollment has increased by 44% since Dolan’s arrival in 2018. At the beginning of this school year, St. Mary’s moved its Sacred Heart students to the Tremont Street campus. It is now a K-12 school with more than 850 students enrolled.
The School of Education at Boston College is named for Lynch and his late wife, Carolyn. The Lynches also helped fund the Urban Catholic Teachers Corps, which has trained more than 170 Catholic school teachers in the Boston area through a two-year program that includes practicum training and a graduate degree from the Lynch School of Education.
