Minnesota couple leaves $5 million estate gift to Saint Mary’s University in Winona

Students in need will be guided by generous hands in at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.

The Winona campus recently became the beneficiary of more than $5 million from the Lucille G. Stiever Estate. It marked the largest estate gift in university history, according to a news release from Saint Mary’s.

“Although Lucille G. Stiever and her husband, Saint Mary’s 1949 alumnus Robert J. Stiever, will never hear the thanks or get to know the many students who will benefit from the scholarship support generated from this gift, this is exactly the way this humble and generous couple would have wanted it,” the university said.

The Stievers lived in both St. Paul, Minn. and on Lucille’s family farm in Caledonia, Minn. Robert was an economist and accountant for the USDA Commodity Credit Corporation and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service and retired after 40 years. Lucille retired from the Ramsey County Public Library after 30 years as the office and property manager.

Saint Mary’s said both Stievers were lifelong learners and avid readers. It was their desire that their estate gift is used for undergraduate students on Saint Mary’s Winona Campus with financial need so that more students would be able to afford a college education.

“Saint Mary’s looks forward to many years of providing scholarships from this generous gift.”