Gifts from Widow of Medical Ethicist Patrick Romanell Establish Named Professorship, Support Lecture Series at UB

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Edna Romanell has made two gifts with a combined value of nearly $1.5 million to the University at Buffalo.

With the two gifts -- made through revocable trust expectancies -- Mrs. Romanell has continued the legacy begun by her late husband, Patrick Romanell, a philosopher and author of several books on critical naturalism.

The first bequest of $600,000 will provide for continuing support of the Romanell Lecture on Medical Ethics and Philosophy, a series she and her husband established in 1997 with $50,000 in gifts.

Her second bequest of nearly $900,000 will establish the Edna and Patrick Romanell Professorship in the Department of Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences.

A former medical social worker, Mrs. Romanell says that she and her husband shared the same thoughts on giving.

"If we can afford it, let someone else benefit, too," she says. "You only live so long, and our philosophy was always to let somebody else profit, as well."

Peter Hare, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus and former chair of the philosophy department, and Timothy Madigan, Ph.D. '99 and M.A. '98, then a philosophy graduate student, were friends of Patrick Romanell, who Madigan calls "one of the first philosophers to work in medical ethics."

At the time, Romanell was a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, and had taught at several colleges and universities in the United States and in Italy, his birthplace. He earned master's and doctoral degrees from Columbia University.

In 1997, Hare invited Romanell to UB to give a lecture on medical ethics. Madigan, now editorial director at the University of Rochester Press, says Romanell later established a lecture series at UB because "he preferred lectureships as a way to get fresh, original ideas across."

The Romanells also gave $20,000 to fund a graduate fellowship for UB philosophy students studying naturalism.

Patrick Romanell died of cancer in February 2002, but his generosity continues to benefit the university. To learn how you can plan a gift to UB, contact Wendy Irving, director of gift planning, at (716) 645-3312 or irving@buffalo.edu. Or visit the Office of Development Web site at http://www.buffalo.edu/giving.

Edna Romanell's gifts are part of "The Campaign for UB: Generation to Generation," now in its final phase.