(DePaul University/Jamie Moncrief)
Earlier this spring, Sasha Gerritson, a member of the Board of Trustees; and her husband, Eugene Jarvis,
made a donation to DePaul to establish the Opera Theatre Endowment. The endowment will support opera productions in the School of Music and designate the Donald E. Casey Lobby in the anticipated Sasha and Eugene Jarvis Opera Hall, scheduled for completion in spring 2020.
The inspiration for the gift springs from Gerritson’s dedication to DePaul, her appreciation for Dean Emeritus Casey and her own career in music. An alumna of the university's School of Music, Gerritson also is the director of Opera and Musical Theatre at Northeastern Illinois University and the music minister at Park Ridge Community Church. She was designated as the School of Music’s “Distinguished Alumna of the Year” in 2005 and she recently made her directorial debut at the Holtschneider Performance Center with a production of the "Beggar’s Opera." Jarvis is president of the arcade video game company, Raw Thrills, Inc., and the first game-designer-in-residence in the College of Computing and Digital Media.
Gerritson and Jarvis' contribution will include a dedication of the lobby of the Sasha and Eugene Jarvis Opera Hall to Casey, who strived to elevate DePaul and the School of Music during his 20-year tenure as dean. He also enjoyed personal success as a conductor, having made more than 100 appearances throughout the United States and Canada.