Generous alumnus donates major gift to Riordan
New Apple Mac desktop computers for the journalism program were some of the items purchased with the donation of alumnus Guido Salomone ’57, who left his alma mater a generous gift in his will.
November 21, 2021
In late July, Riordan was notified of a sizable estate gift that was given to the school from the trust of an alumnus, a seven figure estate gift that is likely the largest single gift from an individual donor that the school has ever received.
Guido Salomone was a Riordan graduate from the Class of 1957 and a long time supporter of Riordan for 28 years. Salomone never married, didn’t have any other extended family, and his brother had passed away before him, so being the only one left from his family he decided to put Riordan in his trust as well as two other parishes here in San Francisco.
The gift was unrestricted, meaning it can be used for anything the school’s staff deems necessary, which is a highly unusual case, especially for such a large gift. With this freedom, Simon Chui, as the Director of Development at Riordan, has looked into seeing where the money should go as the school receives it over the next 18 months.
The money will be distributed into four different buckets: first, programs that impact student learning and teaching, second is the capital reserve fund (for future maintenance needs like roof replacement), third would be current renovation projects (classroom and bathroom remodels), and finally school endowment.
According to Chui, the bucket that will take priority is the one that will improve the school immediately, which is to say the first one that will impact student learning and teaching.
Riordan had been working with Salomone for a while, so a gift like this didn’t come out of nowhere. What did come out of nowhere though, was the surprise of such a large gift being left for Riordan in his will without a notice from Guido Salomone, as it’s usually pretty customary to let the recipient know that they have been put into a will.
Upon being told the news Logan Scudmore ‘22 had this to say about the news, “It’s crazy that Salomone would give such a large sum to Riordan. Even though he had no family, it’s still crazy that he would offer it to Riordan. Though I suppose that’s just a sign of how much of an impact Riordan has on its student lives!”
