An $8 million donation from Tom Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints, kicks off the renovations on Loyola’s closed library.

Benson donated $8 million through the Gayle and Tom Benson Charitable Foundation to renovate the closed library and transform it into the “Tom Benson Jesuit Center.”

The renovated building will house Loyola’s Jesuit Center, which is part of Loyola’s office of Mission and Ministry as well as a new chapel.

Located at the center of campus, the new Tom Benson Jesuit Center will be a symbol of Loyola’s Jesuit identity.

During his announcement speech Sept. 23, Benson said, “It is my hope that the Tom Benson Jesuit Center will prompt many students towards a full and faithful experience here at Loyola.”

The Rev. Kevin J. Wildes S.J., discussed the donation with Benson since the 2010 Super Bowl.

“I went to him some time ago and asked him to consider this gift,” Wildes said.

“It is something I had focused in on as I looked at what we were doing in terms of the master plan,” Wildes said.

The $8 million donation is a good start to Loyola’s capital campaign for the Loyola 2012 plan according to Matt Lambert, associate director of Public Affairs and Loyola Alumnus.

Benson said in his speech that he hopes his donation will do more than than just help fund the new Jesuit Center. “Through this I’m hoping and looking forward to other people getting involved more with Loyola,” Benson said. “We got a long way to go. This is just a beginning to what we need to do. We need everybody’s support.”

The former library has a long history at Loyola, starting when it opened its doors in 1950. Chairperson of Loyola’s Board of Trustees, Suzanne Mestayer said, “American presidential candidates have spoken from these steps, Catholic cardinals have made appearances here and marriage proposals have actually occurred on these steps.”

The old library was closed in 1999. It was shut down due to its small size and need for renovation when the Monroe Library opened, according to Lambert.

Benson attended Loyola University New Orleans in the 1940’s and received an honorary degree in 1987.

In 1997 he donated $500,000 to fund the Gregory R. Choppin Chemistry Wing in Monroe Hall.

In 2008, Benson donated $2 million to the university, half of which was used to create the Jesuit Social Research Institute and the other half to create the Rev. James C. Carter, S.J., Fellowship.

There is no set date for when construction on the Tom Benson Jesuit Center will begin or be completed.

“I’m hoping that we can get the project moving in a couple of years,” Wildes said. “But we need to move in time with other projects on campus.”

With construction plans including the renovation of Thomas Hall and a new student center, Loyola is timing construction as to not shut down too many parts of campus at once.

“If I had all the money in the world to do everything tomorrow, I still couldn’t do everything tomorrow because it would choke us,” Wildes said.

Mestayer said during the announcement that Benson’s donation will not only help Loyola move forward, but maintain its Jesuit identity.

“Make no mistake about this, our first goal is enhancing our Jesuit values,” Mestayer said.

“Today is a great start to accomplishing that very fundamental goal of ours.”

Sam Winstrom can be reached at [email protected]

Fr. Kevin Wildes and Tom Benson view the banner for the new Tom Benson Jesuit Center. (Loyola Maroon)