Alumnus Ed Speed (B.B.A. ’70, M.A. ’86) and his wife, Linda, have given another significant gift to St. Mary’s University to support scholarship that advances Catholic social teaching, human rights, social justice and peace building.

They have given a gift of $137,500 to establish the Edward and Linda Speed Peace and Justice Fellows Program in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The funding will support annual fellowships for faculty research and presentations that includes publishing and/or creating works that address peace and justice issues. In addition, the funding will support an undergraduate research student assistant to work with the faculty fellow.

 Last semester, the Speeds presented the University with $125,000 to establish the Edward and Linda Speed Endowment, also in the School, to support Theology and Philosophy faculty research. Another gift, of $25,000, will go to support the values-lab faith component of the Greehey MBA program, bringing their total gifts to St. Mary’s over the past three months to $287,500.

Ed Speed is a member of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences Advisory Council and a retired banking executive. He said that as a senior business leader, he often witnessed how important the core facets of a liberal arts education are to successful leadership. He and Linda feel there is no better way to help St. Mary’s advance its mission as a Catholic and Marianist liberal arts institution than to provide financial support to faculty who directly influence liberal arts education, which is critical for the development of future leaders.

Speed retired last year as president and CEO of Texas Dow Employees Credit Union, the largest state-chartered credit union in Texas, with more than $2 billion in assets. He’d spent 35 years in financial services, real estate development and construction. He received the Bro. Paul Goelz, S.M. Award from St. Mary’s in 2003 for his community impact and Marianist values in business. Speed also helped establish the Houston Business Ethics Forum to foster the application of Catholic Social Teaching in business.

Back to top