Recognizing a lifetime of philanthropy and civic leadership, DePaul University will bestow its highest honor, the St. Vincent de Paul Award, upon former Sears, Roebuck and Co. CEO Edward A. Brennan on April 24. Brennan is being honored for his lifelong commitment to public service and higher education in Chicago, as evidenced by his 20 years of service as a DePaul trustee. During that time, he founded the university’s Corporate and Foundation Gifts Committee and also helped to arrange numerous gifts to the university, funding both scholarships and facilities. He also found time to serve many other educational, Catholic and not-for-profit organizations, and even in retirement, he still chairs the board at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center.

“Edward Brennan’s example of corporate leadership, public service and charitable philanthropy is in the best tradition of St. Vincent de Paul,” said the Rev. John P. Minogue, C.M., president of DePaul University. “It is in that spirit of servant leadership that our university recognizes his contributions to making Chicago a better place to live, learn and work.”

Brennan will speak during a convocation at 5 p.m. April 24, at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 1010 W. Webster Ave., in Lincoln Park. He will be awarded a medallion etched with St. Vincent’s image, along with a citation recognizing his service to education, charity and community. A reception and dinner will be held in his honor immediately following at the ballroom of the DePaul Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave.

The St. Vincent de Paul Award, the university’s highest honor, is conferred on very special occasions to persons exemplifying the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul by serving God through the needs of humanity. St. Vincent, the 17th century French saint known as “the Apostle of Charity,” is the university’s patron. There have been 25 recipients of the award since 1965.

Previous recipients of the St. Vincent de Paul Award have included civic leaders such as philanthropist Arthur J. Schmitt and the late Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley; singer and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson; leaders in Catholic charitable and social justice organizations, such as Msgr. Vincent W. Cooke, Dorothy Day and Msgr. John J. Egan; and Nobel Peace Prize winners Lech Walesa and Oscar Arias Sanchez. The award was last bestowed in 1999 to Sister Mary Rose McGeady, president of Covenant House International.

DePaul is the largest private university in Chicago and the largest Catholic university in the United States. The university enrolls a richly diverse population of 21,363 students who take classes on two city and six suburban campuses. In addition to its Lincoln Park and Loop campuses in Chicago, DePaul has campuses in Lake Forest (Barat and Conway Park), Des Plaines (O’Hare Campus), Rolling Meadows, Naperville and Oak Forest (South Campus). DePaul also offers MBA and bachelor’s degree programs in Hong Kong, and MBA programs in Bahrain and the Czech Republic.

DePaul was founded in 1898 by the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers (the Congregation of the Mission), a Roman Catholic religious community that continues the mission and values of Vincent de Paul. The university emphasizes academic excellence, service to the community, access to education and respect for the individual.