Loyola University Maryland to receive its largest gift: $6.3 million

James Lambdin, a graduate of Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, and his wife, Anna, have selected Loyola University Maryland as the beneficiary of $6.3 million from their estate, according to a Nov. 18 news release from Loyola.

Their gift, the largest in the Baltimore university’s history, will support scholarships for graduate students in the Sellinger School of Business and Management. It will also provide fellowship assistance for graduate students in the speech-language-hearing sciences department in Loyola College of Arts and Sciences.

Jim Lambdin earned his master’s degree in finance from Loyola in 1983. He is the president & CEO of Lambdin Development Company, a real estate development company focusing on residential and commercial land development, commercial construction and management of investment properties in Harford and Cecil counties.

The Lambdins’ support of the speech-language-hearing sciences department will increase the impact of the Ann Lambdin Beetz Huntington’s Disease Memorial Fellowship Fund for Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, according to Loyola. The Lambdins created that fund in memory of Jim Lambdin’s sister, Ann Lambdin Beetz, who taught at Loyola for 30 years before she died in 2018.

“My family has a number of connections with Loyola,” Jim Lambdin said in the release. “I wanted to create a fund in honor of my sister, Ann Lambdin Beetz. Ann had such a following with her students, and when I met some of them, I could tell she had developed personal relationships with them and had left an impression on the University.” 

The Lambdins also made a separate $100,000 gift to establish the Anna and Jim Lambdin Fellowship Fund, an endowed fund that provides fellowship assistance to graduate students enrolled in the Sellinger School of Business and Management. Their bequest will grow that fund and ensure its posterity.

“Forward-looking gifts such as this one from the Lambdins allow us to envision the future of Loyola and consider how the work we do can bring that vision to life,” said Jesuit Father Brian F. Linnane, president. “This transformational bequest will shape a legacy of graduate learning at Loyola.”

Jim Lambdin said he benefited greatly from his Loyola education.

“My wife, Anna, and I consider ourselves to be very fortunate, and we want to leave behind a legacy that could benefit other young graduate students who are working hard to further their careers,” he said.

While attending graduate school at Loyola, Jim Lambdin also worked fulltime at Ernst & Young. He went on to work as the vice president of First National Bank of Maryland (which would later become M&T Bank) from 1978 to 1987, according to the release. He attributes the skills he learned at the university to helping him advance his career and climb the corporate ladder.

Jim and Anna Lambdin live in Fair Hill, Cecil County. In addition to being Jim’s business partner, Anna had a career in fundraising for non-profit organizations and recently retired from the ARC Northern Chesapeake Region. She is currently a full-time community volunteer. They have set up additional scholarship funds at two local community colleges to provide funding to nursing students. Jim Lambdin recently stepped down as the vice chairman for the University of Maryland/Upper Chesapeake Health System Inc. having served 25 years on its Board of Directors.

He is a member of the Harford Community College Foundation, has been a member of the Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation Board since 1999 and has served on several other community and civic organizations throughout his career.

“Through our gift to Loyola, Anna and I hope that others who are able will be compelled to give back,” he said.

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