Growing up, the four Michalik children considered Saint Peter’s University a second home. Their father, beloved economics professor Benjamin Michalik, Ph.D., taught at the University for 46 years and their mother, Helen, a registered nurse at the Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, wholeheartedly supported his dedication to Jesuit education, working the night shift while Dr. Michalik watched the children and typed his doctoral thesis. Ceil Michalik ’73 fondly remembers dusting the bookcases in her father’s office on Saturday mornings and eating lunch in the faculty dining room. The connection was so strong, in fact, that in addition to Ceil, her siblings Geraldine Michalik, Ph.D. ’71 and Joseph Michalik ’83 opted to attend Saint Peter’s. All three majored in economics. So it was natural that the trio of Michaliks, together with their brother, Andrew, decided in 1997 to establish the Dr. & Mrs. Benjamin A. Michalik Scholarship in celebration of their father’s 80th birthday. Dr. Michalik, who passed away in 2002, was shocked by the surprise announcement at a birthday party on campus attended by family, colleagues and former students. “He sat down and started to cry,” Ceil recalled. “He was just flabbergasted, but at the same time, so proud and honored.”
Today, Dr. Michalik’s legacy lives on in his children and at Saint Peter’s. Geraldine, Ceil and Joseph have all enjoyed noted careers in finance and have actively supported alma mater, while Andrew is a successful information technology professional, recently founding a firm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It also remains strong in scholarship recipients, some of whom are planning to be on campus on March 22 for a memorial mass for Dr. Michalik’s 100th birthday and the 15th anniversary of his death. Photos from the mass are featured below.
“With this scholarship, we’re honoring our parents’ passion and strong feeling that education is important for the community,” Ceil explained. “We are strong believers that education can make a difference in an individual’s life, socially as well as economically. The moral character of a Jesuit education is an added bonus.”
