A prominent Northern Virginia family has continued its tradition
of generosity toward Marymount University in Arlington with a naming
gift for the The Reinsch Pierce Family Courtyard at the school’s recently
opened Ballston Center.
The gift was announced Oct. 26 at Marymount’s annual President’s
Circle Dinner, held at District Wharf in Washington
“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,” Sister Majella 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.