While George Wiegers, Robert Clune and Jerome Gorski graduated from Niagara University back in 1958, their friendship has lasted for decades.
JoAnn Clune, Robert’s wife for 45 years and another class of ‘58 graduate from the School of Nursing, said he knew them back when they lived together in the Varsity Village. Janet Gorski, Jerome’s wife for 65 years, said her husband’s friends were part of their wedding party.
“We stayed in touch all these years,” Gorski said, “at any function, if it was in Florida, if it was here at the university.”
The friendship between the three will now be memorialized as their alma mater announced Monday it received a $5 million gift from the Wiegers family, with components to be named after Gorski and Clune. It’s the largest amount donated toward a pre-law program in the state, providing resources few other programs can match.
“This commitment, loving fulfilled by George’s family following his passing last November, ensures that his vision and values will shape Niagara students for generations to come,” said Jaclyn Drozd, the VP of Institutional Advancement, during the announcement Monday morning. “Through this gift, Niagara will honor not only George’s vision, but the people who shaped it.”
This funding will create three new initiatives for the university’s pre-law program:
• The George A. Wiegers Pre-Law library, an expansion to the current campus library in Bailo Hall. It would house the school’s collection of legal books and reference materials, prep materials for LSAT exams, and spaces for student meetings, mock trials, and guest presentations from judges and lawyers.
• The Hon. Jerome C. Gorski, ‘58, Moot Courtroom, a new facility to be built in Glynn Hall. This would make NU one of the few schools nationwide where undergraduates have a space for a realistic courtroom setting.
• The Robert J. Clune, ‘58, Endowed Director in Law and Jurisprudence.
In addition, the Wiegers family established a $2 million challenge match for others to donate and a fund for preparing pre-law students for post-graduate academic pursuits.
“This gift will transform the academic experience for our pre-law students and equip them with the knowledge, tools and experience to be successful in law school and beyond,” said Dr. Kevin Hinkley, the director of the university’s pre-law program. They expect to break ground on these new additions in the next few months, with no set timeline for when they will be ready for student use.
For the fall 2025 semester, the pre-law program has nearly 200 students, including 55 freshmen.
Born in New York City and part of NU’s basketball team and ROTC program, Wiegers went on to Columbia Business School and worked with several NYC financial companies like Dean Witter & Company, Lehman Brothers, and Dillon Read & Co. Some of his notable achievements during his career there was helping Doubleday Publishing divest its interest in the New York Mets and helping fashion the “Brady Bonds” which recapitalized much of Latin America during the 1980’s.
After retiring in 1993, he and his wife, Betsy, moved to Vail, Colorado, a ski resort town two hours west of Denver, where he started Wiegers & Co. LLC. That investment firm went on to finance companies like QDOBA, AL George Inc., Copano Energy, and Hart Energy Publishing.
Clune was an Ithaca lawyer who passed away in 2019, whose daughter is the namesake for the Elizabeth Ann Clune Center for Theatre at NU. Gorski, who passed in 2022, worked his way from being a Buffalo private practice lawyer to being elected to the state Supreme Court in 1989.
While living out there, Wiegers donated $5 million to help start the Depression Center at the University of Colorado Health System, based on how his mother suffered from mental illness during his youth. He also helped found the Wiegers Clinic at the Eagle Valley Behavioral Health program within the Vail Health system.
The Wiegers have been supporters of NU ever since George gave a $3 donation in 1960, with his most notable donations transforming the college’s theater space and improving the campus’s performing arts.
He started putting together his current donation to NU in August 2024, when he invited school representatives to his Colorado home to discuss the funding’s potential.
“He wanted Niagara to offer a pre-law experience that was distinctive, ambitious and competitive with the finest programs in the region and the nation,” said Drozd.
Clune said he got a phone call from Wiegers about this one night, around 9:30 back then, telling her his intentions.
“He said, ‘I want to give some money to Niagara. I need some help.’ and that’s how it happened,” Clune said.
He would not live to see it through, passing away on Nov. 24, 2024.
With this, his family’s total support for NU amounted to $7.5 million.
“My husband, who loved Niagara, is part of Niagara now in perpetuity,” said Clune. “They truly love Niagara and the education they got here.”