Martire Family Gifts $3 Million to Notre Dame Prep

Largest gift in school history is a statement of faith and community from Bridgeport natives, Frank and Marisa Martire

Key Highlights

• ^{Notre Dame Prep of Sacred Heart University received a $3 million gift from Frank and Marisa Martire}
• ^{This is the largest donation in the school’s history—previous record was $500,000 in 1999}
• ^{The funds will go toward modernizing classrooms, enhancing facilities, and beautifying the campus}
• ^{Head of school Chris Cipriano announced the news during National Discover Catholic Schools Week}

Chris Cipriano, head of school at Notre Dame Prep of Sacred Heart University, has a challenge he must solve in short order. The school announced today that it is receiving a gift of $3 million from Frank and Marisa Martire for the modernization and enhancement of classrooms and facilities as well as the beautification and advancement of the institution in general.

Now Cipriano is struggling with how to get his students to fully grasp the scale of such an investment. It is, admittedly, a nice problem to have.

This will be the largest gift the Catholic school, situated on the Fairfield/Bridgeport border, has ever received—by a very large margin. The previous largest gift to the school was $500,000, received in 1999.

Thanks to the generosity and vision of the Martires, Notre Dame Prep will be able to renovate, beautify and modernize the property, its facilities and classrooms, providing its students with equitable access to the most current trends, tools and techniques in high school education.

It is particularly appropriate that this announcement comes during National Discover Catholic Schools Week, which is designed to help schools connect with prospective families, donors, educators and community members.

Cipriano shared the exciting news with his faculty and staff late yesterday, and the announcement was made to the student body this morning. It was greeted with shouts and cheers as they thought about what that amount of money could mean to the school. More cheering erupted as the students learned they would receive a free pizza lunch and a day off to celebrate the gift.

“It’s hard to imagine what a gift of this magnitude will do for Notre Dame Prep. We all thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” said Hannah Reyna, student council president and member of the senior class on behalf of the students. “I look forward to coming back after I graduate to see the changes. I am already proud to be a Notre Dame student and that you think enough of our school to provide this gift makes me even prouder. Thank you very much, Mr. and Mrs. Martire.”

Other speakers included Cipriano, SHU President John J. Petillo and the Martires. Following the announcement celebration, the Martires hosted an interactive luncheon with more than a dozen Notre Dame Prep students answering questions, sharing “the why” and learning more about the students’ stories and pride for their school.

Frank and Marisa Martire, both Bridgeport natives, met in 1965, married in 1970 and, some time ago, paused to reflect on the blessings they'd experienced in the years since.

Frank—who graduated from Notre Dame in 1965, then from Sacred Heart University in 1969—points to both schools’ tradition of developing the moral and ethical characters of their students, alongside their commitment to academic excellence, as a key inspiration for the gift. He attributes much of his own success to those lessons cultivated at Sacred Heart, but which he says first took root at Notre Dame.

“We made a clear decision to give back,” Frank said. Though much of their charitable giving to this point has been focused on the University and its development, the idea of giving to the high school resonated as an opportunity to impact the local community on a more personal level.

Now, as Sacred Heart formally acquired Notre Dame Prep from the Diocese of Bridgeport just last year, this gift is an opportunity to build a strong foundation for the bridge between secondary and higher education where the couple grew up.

“Caring about the student means caring about the whole student,” Marisa said.

“Both Sacred Heart and Notre Dame Prep are blessed by the generosity of Frank and Marisa,” Petillo said. “They understand the importance a good education plays in future success, and they appreciate that learning at Notre Dame and Sacred Heart includes grounding in the mission, values and guiding principles of each institution. They also realize the need for up-to-date facilities and equipment in today’s ever-changing environment. This gift exemplifies all of that, and we are very grateful.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Cipriano. “This gift will help fund renovations to make a more modern institution for knowledge—one that recognizes the importance of all aspects of learning. That includes not only the academic, but the psychological, the emotional, the moral and social elements as well. It will impact the future of all students at Notre Dame Prep,” he said.

Which brings us back to the challenge of articulating the scale and impact a $3 million gift to a high school represents.

How do you put a dollar sign next to the experience of community? How do you quantify curiosity? What is the value of a question that might otherwise have been unasked? Or a mystery that might otherwise have been unexplored?

The answer, of course, is that there is none.

“This gift from Frank and Marisa Martire is more than generosity. It's a statement. It tells the students of Notre Dame Prep—past, present and for generations to come—that their worth is invaluable,” Cipriano says.