Fritz Duda recieves an honorary degree at the 2009 Notre Dame commencement. Photo provided
SOUTH BEND — The University of Notre Dame will establish a new historic preservation center and graduate degree program using a $30 million gift to the university's School of Architecture.
The multimillion donation provided by Notre Dame Trustee Fritz Duda, his wife, Mary Lee Duda, and the family's foundation will support the new preservation center as well as curriculum, student financial aid and conference opportunities within the architecture school.
The new center will be named the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience and Sustainability for the couple's son who worked in architecture and real estate development in California and Texas before his death in 2019.
Michael Duda, a 2005 graduate of Notre Dame's School of Architecture, was appointed to the board of the Texas Historical Foundation in 2011 and started his own real estate company, Briar Cove Development, in 2018. He was 38 years old when he died.
Michael Duda helped establish an initial charter for the Texas Historical Foundation's Architectural Endowment Fund, which now bears Michael's name, his father said in a news release.
Copyright © 2024, South Bend Tribune