Maryanne and John R. Post ’60

A recent $7.5 million gift from alumnus John R. Post '60, and his wife, Maryanne, will dramatically reshape the academic hub of the Saint Joseph's University campus.

The gift is the centerpiece of what ultimately will be known as the John R. Post '60 Academic Center —which includes the construction of a new, three-story building, to be named the John and Maryanne Post Learning Commons, and the renovation of the existing Francis A. Drexel Library.

Drexel Library will be structurally joined to the Post Learning Commons—offering Saint Joseph's students a bright, welcoming, and flexible space, responding to all learning styles and providing round-the-clock research and technology support as a true center for learning and discovery.

The 37,000-square-foot Learning Commons will include private rooms with large screens for students to work on projects and create collaborative presentations, instruction areas, expanded student seating, and special collections and archives, while the Crossroads Café—modeled after “lively” commercial coffee shops, will attract students looking beyond the traditional library setting.

“I have always had the highest respect and affection for Saint Joseph's University,” Post said. “It has prepared and shielded me well for both life and my career in industry. And I am confident this center will further the University's mission as a place of inquiry, a place of dialog, and a place of academic rigor and engagement—becoming the academic hub of a vibrant campus.”

The John R. Post '60 Academic Center is one of six priorities outlined in With Faith and Strength to Dare: The Campaign for Saint Joseph's University —which has already raised more than $101 million toward its $150 million campaign goal. University Board of Trustees standards stipulate that construction may not commence until 100 percent of the total cost has been pledged, and 75 percent of the pledged amount has been received. The estimated $21 million project is anticipated to break ground in 2013.

Post, of Wyomissing, Pa., founder and president of Post Precision Castings, of Strausstown, Pa.—one of America's leading providers of commercial investment castings, has been a long-time benefactor of his alma mater.

In 1999, the Post's made a gift of $6 million to Saint Joseph's—at the time the largest single alumni gift in University history—which transformed the former Villiger Hall into a state-of-the-art academic center. Now known as John R. Post Hall, this innovative facility today houses sociology, psychology, criminal justice, and health services, and it boasts many of the University's most advanced classrooms and research capabilities.

With this gift, the Post's become the largest single benefactor in the University's 159-year history.