Former DePaul University President Rev. John T. Richardson dies at 98
CHICAGO (CBS) – Former DePaul University President Rev. John T. Richardson has died, according to a release from the university.
Rev. Richardson Started at DePaul in 1954 as dean of the Graduate School before becoming the university's 9th president from 1981 to 1993. He would then become chancellor until 2017.
"Fr. Richardson's leadership of DePaul resulted in growing our national reputation, while expanding our engagement in the city of Chicago and deepening our commitment to the university's Catholic, Vincentian, and urban mission," DePaul President A. Gabriel Esteban says. "He was a visionary leader, whose impact on our university will endure, and he will be missed by all in the DePaul family."
Richardson led the university's unprecedented $100 million Cornerstone Campaign from the late 1980s to the early 1990s – resulting in major expansions of DePaul's Loop and Lincoln Park campuses. During his tenure, enrollment jumped dramatically, and the school again became the largest Catholic university in the nation.
By the end of Richardson's presidency, enrollment had reached 16,500. The increases during his tenure were driven in part by the construction of three new residence halls in Lincoln Park -- changing life at DePaul as the university began to attract students from out of state.
In 1992, DePaul began construction on the university's first free-standing library on the Lincoln Park Campus, made possible by a major donation from the family of DePaul alumnus Richard Heise. Little did Richardson know, the family requested that the new library be named in his honor -- The John T. Richardson Library.
Under Richardson's direction, DePaul established the International Human Rights Law Institute, the Institute for Business Ethics, the Center for Church/State Studies, and the Center for Urban Education.
Rev. Richardson passed away on March 29 in Perryville, Missouri where he relocated after serving 64 years at DePaul. He was 98 years old. Funeral services are pending.
