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Franklin Lakes couple give $10 million to University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame University will rename its Center for Ethics and Culture after Anthony and Christie de Nicola, a Franklin Lakes couple who made a $10 million "transformative" donation.

The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture will use the donation to expand its work in student formation; academic research, programming and publishing; culture of life programming; and mission hiring.

“This tremendously generous gift from Tony and Christie will allow us to expand the reach of the center," said Notre Dame President the Rev. John Jenkins.

Anthony de Nicola is the president and managing partner of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a private New York investment firm. Christie de Nicola has served on the boards of St. Elizabeth Home School Association in Wyckoff and Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey. Two of their children are Notre Dame alumni.

Franklin Lakes Tony and Christie de Nicola have donated $10 million to the University of Notre Dame.

The Center for Ethics and Culture has been part of Notre Dame’s wider efforts since 1999, sharing Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research and dialogue, on campus and to the general public.

O. Carter Snead, director of the newly named center, said the de Nicolas have been "instrumental" in supporting the center throughout his tenure as director.

University of Notre Dame, South Bend.

"Their vision, commitment and generosity are the sine qua non of the center’s growth and success," Snead said.

Anthony de Nicola is a graduate of DePauw University, where he earned a degree in economics and computational mathematics and was the three-year starting quarterback for the Tigers, earning academic All-America honors.

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He worked as a financial analyst with Goldman Sachs before earning a master's in business administration from the Harvard Business School. He has served on numerous boards, including for the Partnership for New York City, Toigo Foundation, Inner-City Scholarship Fund for the Archdiocese of New York, New York Catholic Foundation and DePauw.

Christie de Nicola is a graduate of Ferris State University and actively supported pro-life ministries, victims of HIV-AIDS, women’s shelters and community soup kitchens.

Both are members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and are Stewards of St. Peter in the Papal Foundation. They are past recipients of Notre Dame’s Sorin Award for Service to Catholic Schools and the Spirit of Service Award from St. John’s University, and they have been honored for outstanding service from the Archdiocese of New York and the Archdiocese of Newark.

“Christie and I are excited to support the Catholic mission of Notre Dame, which seeks to contribute to human flourishing by addressing the most important issues of the day," Anthony de Nicola said in a statement. 

“Our faith calls us to speak out in defense of the unborn child, the refugee, the poor, the disabled and the elderly. We are proud to add our name to this center,” reads Christie de Nicola's statement.