Each year our Benefactor Recognition Dinner serves as a celebration of philanthropy and a thank you to our generous benefactors.
The evening program included special recognition of the 2023 recipients of the Heritage Award for Transformational Philanthropy: The Riebenack Family – F. Walter, Mary Ann, Kristen, and Angela, as well as The Otto Bremer Trust.
The Riebenack Family endowed the F. Walter and Mary Ann Riebenack Scholarship and the Kristen A. Riebenack Memorial Scholarship, leaving a substantial and everlasting legacy that has significantly enhanced student access to Saint Mary’s M.A. in Philanthropy and Development program.
Accepting on behalf of the Riebenack’s was Audrey P. Kintzi, MS, ACFRE, FAFP, vice president emerita and executive director for the Master’s in Philanthropy and Development program.
The Otto Bremer Trust established two endowed funds in honor of inaugural trustee Lawrence A. Carr and his son-in-law trustee, Robert J. Reardon. The Robert J. Reardon Memorial Scholarship supports full-time undergraduate students of color on the Winona Campus, with demonstrated financial need. Lawrence A. Carr Endowed Chair in Business supports faculty in the School of Business and Technology.
Accepting on behalf of The Otto Bremer Trust award were its trustees, Frank Miley C’02, a Saint Mary’s past parent and alumnus with a graduate certificate in education from Saint Mary’s, and Dan Reardon whose daughter Catherine Reardon B’83 is an alumnae of our university.
We also heard from two of our graduating seniors, Nicholas (Nick) Kiemel and Noah Kiemel. We are proud of our students like Nick and Noah — from all our programs and on all our campuses — who are leading ethical lives of service, while becoming ever stronger virtuous leaders in their families, their communities, their churches, houses of worship, and in our world.
We continue to be blessed by the generosity of our benefactors and are tremendously grateful for their unending support. Saint Mary’s University is what it is and is able to do the extraordinary things it does — because of you.
