Benefactor Spotlight

Virginia Shields ’48, The Marywood Legacy Society

Virginia Collins Shields with a portrait of her
and her late husband, Paul.

Virginia Collins Shields, a 1948 Marywood graduate, has been a dedicated and long-time supporter of the University and its students. Mrs. Shields, who served as a member and Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, was named a Trustee Emerita in recognition of her years of service.

As part of her class’ 50th Anniversary Gift, Paul and Virginia Shields made a $1 million commitment to Marywood University.  This gift, secured by a Deferred Pledge Agreement from the donors, was one of many such gifts received from the Class of 1948.  Today, the Shields Center for Visual Arts is named in honor of Mrs. Shields and in memory of her late husband, Paul.  

Charter member and keynote speaker at the founding of the Marywood Legacy Society, Mrs. Shields shared, “The service I have been able to offer Marywood University has been for me a way of giving back to the institution that has meant so much to me throughout my life.”

The Marywood Legacy Society honors those benefactors who have established planned gifts with Marywood University or who have named Marywood as a beneficiary in their estate plans, either through a bequest, deferred pledge agreement, trust, gift annuity, pooled income fund, life insurance policy, or retirement account.