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April 9, 1999
Giving

Monaghan gives $50M to launch Catholic law school

Billionaire Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza and a philanthropist who said he plans "to die broke," is donating $50 million to start a Roman Catholic law school, the Associated Press reports.

The Ave Maria School of Law will open in temporary quarters next year in Ann Arbor, Mich. Retired federal judge Robert Bork is the school's first professor. Bernard Dobranski, dean of the Catholic University School of Law in Washington, has been named dean of the new law school, AP reports.

"I think it will be the West Point for Catholic laity in the years to come. This is something I've wanted to do for some time, get out of the pizza business and get on to things that are more important," Monaghan told AP.

The 61-year-old Michigan native started Domino's in 1960. He sold most of his interest in the company to the Boston-based investment firm Bain Capital last year for an estimated $1 billion. He previously owned the Detroit Tigers major league baseball team as well.

He is chairman of the Ave Maria Foundation and has supported Catholic preschools, elementary schools and academies. He founded the Ave Maria Institute, a liberal arts college in Ypsilanti, Mich.. last year.

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