LYNN — A $1 million gift to St. Mary’s from the family of the late William F. Connell will be used in a manner that would make him smile.
St. Mary’s announced the creation of the McDonough Square Grant program, which will provide need-based financial aid to students from Lynn. Eligible students will receive up to one-third of tuition and fees. The moniker is a nod to the Lynn neighborhood where Connell grew up and is named for World War I soldier Thomas Lawrence McDonough.
Since the $1 million gift was announced at the annual Cardinal Cushing Society event in October, school leadership discussed with the Connell family how to best utilize the funding.
“Our family is so pleased that the expansion for the school’s financial aid program with the McDonough Square Grant initiative will alleviate tuition costs for these Lynn students,” said Margot Connell, Bill’s widow. “I believe Bill would be pleased with this program. McDonough Square is where he formed his core beliefs: Go to Mass, do your best, and be a good person. I am so happy we are able to support the school in this effort.”
The additional financial aid will benefit a diverse St. Mary’s student population in which almost half of St. Mary’s students in grades 6-12 apply for financial aid, with 55 percent considered high need and 72 percent non-white. The school currently awards $1.5 million in merit- and need-based aid, with 60 percent going to high-need students.
“Financial aid support is a game-changer for our Lynn students,” said St. Mary’s board chair William Mosakowski. “It is remarkable that it is connected to a Lynn icon, Bill Connell. This unprecedented investment will allow more Lynn students to pursue their dreams of a St. Mary’s education.”
The McDonough Square Grant will start with the 2024 school year.
“Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the Connell family, Bill’s legacy will live on in the lives of the students who will follow in his footsteps that lead to St. Mary’s,” said Head of School Dr. John F. Dolan. “Bill’s example reminds students that it is not about where you start in life, it matters where you finish.”
Connell, a 1955 St. Mary’s graduate, 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.
