Joan B. Kroc, widow of McDonald’s Corp. founder Ray Kroc, was a generous benefactor of the University of Notre Dame. From 1985 until her death in 2003, she contributed a total of $69.1 million to establish and support the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Mrs. Kroc became acquainted with Notre Dame in the mid-1980s at an event in San Diego, California, during which the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., then the University’s president, spoke out about the escalating nuclear arms race. In 1986, she made a $6 mllion gift to Notre Dame to establish an institute dedicated to peace and conflict resolution. She made an additional $6 million gift two years later to build the Hesburgh Center for International Studies, which houses the Kroc Institute and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. On the occasion of Father Hesburgh’s 86th birthday, Mrs. Kroc made a $5 million gift to create a fund to provide scholarships for Kroc master's students. In 2003, a $50 million bequest from Mrs. Kroc – the single largest gift in the history of Notre Dame – was directed to the Kroc Institute.
