The courtyard at Marymount University’s new building in Ballston has been named for a prominent Northern Virginia family.
The Reinsch family paid $1 million to name The Reinsch Pierce Family Courtyard at the “Newside” building (1000 N. Glebe Road), university officials announced yesterday (Thursday) at Marymount’s annual President’s Circle Dinner, held at District Wharf in Washington, D.C.
Other Marymount facilities named for Reinsch family members include Emerson G. Reinsch Library, Lola’s Café, and Reinsch Auditorium in the library. Lola Reinsch has been a member of Marymount’s Board of Trustees since 1992.
She introduced her father, developer Emerson Gerald “Jerry” Reinsch, to Sister M. Majella Berg, the longtime president of Marymount. After that meeting, they became good friends.
More from a Marymount University press release, after the jump.
“I am so thrilled to do this for Marymount, truly,” said Lola Reinsch, a member of Marymount’s Board of Trustees since 1992.
The $75 million multi-use Ballston Center opened in August for academic, office and residential purposes. LEED Gold Certified, the center is comprised of a nine-story academic/office building and The Rixey, a 12-story residential/retail building, each featuring multi-level underground parking. The complex is anchored by a public plaza and The Reinsch Pierce Family Courtyard.
The family’s relationship with the university began when Lola Reinsch introduced her late father, Arlington developer Emerson Gerald “Jerry” Reinsch, to Sister M. Majella Berg, RSHM. They became good friends and the family shared Thanksgiving dinners together. Later, the longtime Marymount president often visited Reinsch at his nursing home and took him for car rides, where he loved to visit his many properties.
“Our rides together all over Arlington were a lesson in local real estate and land deal history,” Berg recalled in the book, “College to University: A Memoir.”
That lesson was well-learned: Sister Majella, who served as Marymount’s president for 32 years, had the foresight to purchase the Ballston Center’s site and the building that occupied it, “the Blue Goose,” in 1992. She died in 2004.
In an interview before the dinner, Marymount President Matthew D. Shank said the courtyard is the gateway to the entire Ballston Center complex and will be used both by students and the community.
“It will be used for many years to come for events, as a place for students to relax and study and as a walkway for the community,” Shank said. “We’re thrilled that it will be honoring this wonderful family, not only because of Lola’s history as a trustee with Marymount, but also with her father’s history with our university. We’re thrilled that the family tradition is being carried on with such generosity.”
Other Marymount facilities named for Reinsch family members include Emerson G. Reinsch Library, Lola’s Café, and Reinsch Auditorium in the library. Lola Reinsch was accompanied by her son, Gerald Pierce, and her ex-husband, Al Pierce, who served as the architect of Reinsch Library.
Photos Nos. 3-5: Courtesy photos