Supporters
Supporters
Donor Spotlight: Michael and Nydia Searle
Michael Searle is among the earliest and most generous champions of the School of Environmental Sustainability and its leader, Dean Nancy Tuchman. Mr. Searle has aligned his passion for wildlife conservation with Loyola’s commitment to the environment.
Mr. Searle’s interest in the environment grew from early family experiences. “I got into conservation through outdoor exploration, including duck hunting as a thirteen-year-old. I loved learning how to call the ducks and watch them glide in. It gave me great respect for nature and a connection to my food and how mankind and nature have coexisted for thousands of years,” he said.
Michael and Nydia Searle (left) are among the most generous champions of the School of Environmental Sustainability. Thanks to their support, students and staff convert used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel in Loyola’s state-of-the-art Searle Biodiesel Lab (right).
Over his lifetime, Mr. Searle has seen how urban sprawl affects nature especially where he used to hunt along the Illinois River. He observed how expanding urban centers and industry in the area began to overwhelm and change the river. With increased runoff from emerging towns, distribution centers, warehouses, industrial sites, concrete 18-wheeler refueling slabs and their accompanying sewage, runoff, and light pollution, the river’s health and bird migration in this central flyway has declined. He decided to look into how important economic development could occur while still protecting the natural resources he values.
A more recent philanthropic interest of Mr. Searle’s is protecting the health of the water and diversity of wildlife in the Florida Everglades. The Everglades Foundation restoration project is the largest restoration project in the world. It focuses on cleaning polluted water and restoring the vast watershed’s southerly flow, as nature intended, through scientific research and the construction and operation of more than 60 infra-structure projects that are funded equally by the state and federal governments.
Mr. Searle’s long-term partnership in building and launching the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola is consistent with his passion for science, education, economic development, and saving and protecting natural resources.
Mr. Searle got involved with Loyola at the invitation of a family friend, Father John Costello, S.J., to join Loyola’s Council of Regents. He later joined the Board of Trustees and quickly gained enormous respect for Fr. Michael Garanzini, S.J., Loyola’s president from 2001 to 2015. Fr. Garanzini said to Mr. Searle, “your job as a Board member is to learn about the University, and my job as University President is to show you things that you might get excited about funding.”
Mr. Searle was an early adopter of the Biodiesel project when it was just a concept, and even following his full terms on the Regents and Board of Trustees, he has stayed with Loyola over the years because of Nancy Tuchman. “Nancy and I have been partners in sustainability for decades,” he said.
Before he got involved, the School of Environmental Sustainability’s Biodiesel Lab was in a pilot phase and operated out of a space the size of a closet. Thanks to Mr. Searle’s support, it is now a state-of-the-art facility in the SES building where students convert used cooking oil into fuel for campus buses and use the byproducts to make soap for campus washrooms.
“Michael and Nydia Searle’s support and partnership have been an enormous catalyst all along the journey from our origin as a center of excellence (2005) to becoming the Institute of Environmental Sustainability (2013) and now the School of Environmental Sustainability (2020),” said Nancy Tuchman. “The Searles’ belief in our work right from the beginning has inspired new innovations in environmental work that have stronger connections with economic development and business management. I will always be grateful for their continued moral and financial support of this project and hope they will continue to partner with SES and that I can continue to work with them beyond my retirement from Loyola.”
Donor Honor Roll
Total Giving for the 2023-2024 fiscal year
$1,000,000 – $5,000,000
Dorothy (MUND ‘62) and Michael Carbon, MD (BS ‘62)
$100,000 – $999,999
Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities
Paulette and Taylor O’Malley (BBA ‘89)
Michael and Nydia Searle
$50,000 – $99,999
Alvin H. Baum Family Fund
$25,000 – $49,999
Ferdi Foundation
Gore Family Memorial Foundation Trust
$10,000 – $24,999
Anonymous
Max Goldenberg Foundation
The Honorable Mary Smith* (MUND ‘85)
$5,000 – $9,999
Judith (BS ‘63) and Gerald O’Connell (MS ‘66)
$2,500 – $4,999
Anonymous
Jeanne (JFRC ‘75, BA ‘77) and Patrick Conway (JFRC ‘74, BA ‘74)
$1,000 – $2,499
Anonymous
Beans & Bagels/Adam Snow
Christine and Matthew Gambs
Julie and Joseph Harmon
Josephine Krafcisin
Richard Miller (BS ‘59, MSIR ‘76)
Christopher Peterson, PhD
School for Field Studies
Nancy Tuchman, PhD
$500 – $999
Marilyn (MRE ‘70) and Joseph* Antonik (MEd ‘70)
Sheila and David Crumrine, PhD
June and Walter Getzinger
Robin and Matthew Heikkinen
Katherine Kennedy-Kartheiser (JFRC Summer ‘98, MEd ‘99)and James Kartheiser
Stephanie Kimmel and Mike Conroy
Francois Peltier
Xiao Zhang (MEd ‘09)
$100 – $499
Nancy and Peter Buttitta
Denise Du Vernay (MA ‘24) and Majed Khojah (BS ‘17, BBA ‘17)
Jenny Gallo
Michael Koob (BS ‘74)
Darryl Levine
Jamie and Arthur Martin
Jeannee and Michael Martin, MD (BS ‘77)
Miranda McOsker (BA ‘12) and Belyna Bentlage (BA ‘12)
Leslie and Charles O’Connor
Karen and Michael Politinsky (BS ‘84)
Sara Ridenour and Robert Lawrence
Jeanine Solinski (BS ‘01, BA ‘01)
Maree Stewart (JFRC Fall ‘09, BA ‘11)
Lori and Adonios Vavarutsos
$1 to $99
Luigi Amendola
Ethan Bower (BA ‘24)
Sarah Bugarin
Gene Carroll
Keith Cavanaugh (MD ‘96)
Megan Conway
Emily and Fred DeLaRosa
John Drevs
Jody and John Elliott
Christine Falaschetti (BS ‘09)
Julie Fissinger and Kevin Mulcahy
Dylan Flanagan (MS ‘23)
Lauren Friend
Richelle and Jeremy Fultz
Emily Hammermeister (BS ‘19)
Christina Kneitz (BA ‘93)
Teresa Krafcisin (BBA ‘84) and Raymond Goder
Melissa Martinez-Sones and Adam Kintopf
Jhonna McHenry Eileen and Thomas Meulbroek
John Perry
Cynthia and Richard Rodriguez
Eileen (BA ‘70, MEd ‘74) and Robert Schuetz Jr.
Betsy Scott
Angela and Dale Sutton
Tammy and Steve Tsakalios
Over his lifetime, Mr. Searle has seen how urban sprawl affects nature especially where he used to hunt along the Illinois River. He observed how expanding urban centers and industry in the area began to overwhelm and change the river. With increased runoff from emerging towns, distribution centers, warehouses, industrial sites, concrete 18-wheeler refueling slabs and their accompanying sewage, runoff, and light pollution, the river’s health and bird migration in this central flyway has declined. He decided to look into how important economic development could occur while still protecting the natural resources he values.
A more recent philanthropic interest of Mr. Searle’s is protecting the health of the water and diversity of wildlife in the Florida Everglades. The Everglades Foundation restoration project is the largest restoration project in the world. It focuses on cleaning polluted water and restoring the vast watershed’s southerly flow, as nature intended, through scientific research and the construction and operation of more than 60 infra-structure projects that are funded equally by the state and federal governments.
Mr. Searle’s long-term partnership in building and launching the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola is consistent with his passion for science, education, economic development, and saving and protecting natural resources.
Mr. Searle got involved with Loyola at the invitation of a family friend, Father John Costello, S.J., to join Loyola’s Council of Regents. He later joined the Board of Trustees and quickly gained enormous respect for Fr. Michael Garanzini, S.J., Loyola’s president from 2001 to 2015. Fr. Garanzini said to Mr. Searle, “your job as a Board member is to learn about the University, and my job as University President is to show you things that you might get excited about funding.”
Mr. Searle was an early adopter of the Biodiesel project when it was just a concept, and even following his full terms on the Regents and Board of Trustees, he has stayed with Loyola over the years because of Nancy Tuchman. “Nancy and I have been partners in sustainability for decades,” he said.
Before he got involved, the School of Environmental Sustainability’s Biodiesel Lab was in a pilot phase and operated out of a space the size of a closet. Thanks to Mr. Searle’s support, it is now a state-of-the-art facility in the SES building where students convert used cooking oil into fuel for campus buses and use the byproducts to make soap for campus washrooms.
“Michael and Nydia Searle’s support and partnership have been an enormous catalyst all along the journey from our origin as a center of excellence (2005) to becoming the Institute of Environmental Sustainability (2013) and now the School of Environmental Sustainability (2020),” said Nancy Tuchman. “The Searles’ belief in our work right from the beginning has inspired new innovations in environmental work that have stronger connections with economic development and business management. I will always be grateful for their continued moral and financial support of this project and hope they will continue to partner with SES and that I can continue to work with them beyond my retirement from Loyola.”
Donor Honor Roll
Total Giving for the 2023-2024 fiscal year
$1,000,000 – $5,000,000
Dorothy (MUND ‘62) and Michael Carbon, MD (BS ‘62)
$100,000 – $999,999
Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities
Paulette and Taylor O’Malley (BBA ‘89)
Michael and Nydia Searle
$50,000 – $99,999
Alvin H. Baum Family Fund
$25,000 – $49,999
Ferdi Foundation
Gore Family Memorial Foundation Trust
$10,000 – $24,999
Anonymous
Max Goldenberg Foundation
The Honorable Mary Smith* (MUND ‘85)
$5,000 – $9,999
Judith (BS ‘63) and Gerald O’Connell (MS ‘66)
$2,500 – $4,999
Anonymous
Jeanne (JFRC ‘75, BA ‘77) and Patrick Conway (JFRC ‘74, BA ‘74)
$1,000 – $2,499
Anonymous
Beans & Bagels/Adam Snow
Christine and Matthew Gambs
Julie and Joseph Harmon
Josephine Krafcisin
Richard Miller (BS ‘59, MSIR ‘76)
Christopher Peterson, PhD
School for Field Studies
Nancy Tuchman, PhD
$500 – $999
Marilyn (MRE ‘70) and Joseph* Antonik (MEd ‘70)
Sheila and David Crumrine, PhD
June and Walter Getzinger
Robin and Matthew Heikkinen
Katherine Kennedy-Kartheiser (JFRC Summer ‘98, MEd ‘99)and James Kartheiser
Stephanie Kimmel and Mike Conroy
Francois Peltier
Xiao Zhang (MEd ‘09)
$100 – $499
Nancy and Peter Buttitta
Denise Du Vernay (MA ‘24) and Majed Khojah (BS ‘17, BBA ‘17)
Jenny Gallo
Michael Koob (BS ‘74)
Darryl Levine
Jamie and Arthur Martin
Jeannee and Michael Martin, MD (BS ‘77)
Miranda McOsker (BA ‘12) and Belyna Bentlage (BA ‘12)
Leslie and Charles O’Connor
Karen and Michael Politinsky (BS ‘84)
Sara Ridenour and Robert Lawrence
Jeanine Solinski (BS ‘01, BA ‘01)
Maree Stewart (JFRC Fall ‘09, BA ‘11)
Lori and Adonios Vavarutsos
$1 to $99
Luigi Amendola
Ethan Bower (BA ‘24)
Sarah Bugarin
Gene Carroll
Keith Cavanaugh (MD ‘96)
Megan Conway
Emily and Fred DeLaRosa
John Drevs
Jody and John Elliott
Christine Falaschetti (BS ‘09)
Julie Fissinger and Kevin Mulcahy
Dylan Flanagan (MS ‘23)
Lauren Friend
Richelle and Jeremy Fultz
Emily Hammermeister (BS ‘19)
Christina Kneitz (BA ‘93)
Teresa Krafcisin (BBA ‘84) and Raymond Goder
Melissa Martinez-Sones and Adam Kintopf
Jhonna McHenry Eileen and Thomas Meulbroek
John Perry
Cynthia and Richard Rodriguez
Eileen (BA ‘70, MEd ‘74) and Robert Schuetz Jr.
Betsy Scott
Angela and Dale Sutton
Tammy and Steve Tsakalios