The Picherack Family Fund Supports Law School Renovations
Don’t let Frances Picherack’s tiny stature fool you. She is a woman of great character and tenacious spirit.
Frances also personifies the word LOYAL – a quality that Dictionary.com defines as a commitment to a cause, ideal, custom, institution or product.
Her loyalty lies with her family, her community, and Lakehead University.
Frances is a Thunder Bay native, a Lakehead alumna, and a current member of Lakehead’s Board of Governors. She and her son Roman (McGill Law, 2008) have made a generous $30,000 gift from the Picherack Family Fund to the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law.
Now a practising bank finance lawyer in Paris, Roman’s philanthropic spirit of “giving back” and “paying it forward” was influenced by the commitment of his parents to Lakehead University.
In 2006, Frances and her late husband Richard became one of 40 Friends of Lakehead University when they established a $10,000 Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) endowed scholarship. The Frances Guzzi Picherack Saydana Award is given annually to a NOSM student. Under Roman’s direction, the Picherack Family Fund also gave the first $10,000 scholarship donation to Lakehead’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law in 2011.
Frances’ connection to Lakehead University has deep roots.
One of six Guzzi girls, “Frankie,” as her father still affectionately calls her, was raised by immigrant parents. At the encouragement of her Italian father, Francesco, and her Irish mother, Bridget, Frances attended Port Arthur Collegiate Institute (PACI) – a high school known for its academic excellence and, now, decades later, as the home of Lakehead’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law.
An involved, driven, and successful student, Frances graduated from Lakehead University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, winning the Dean’s Gold Medal for University Schools. Not content to rest on her laurels, Frances followed up this achievement by earning a Master of Education.
The Picherack Family Fund’s latest gift to the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law will be used to refurbish the law school’s 100-year-old lower level washrooms. These updates will be greatly appreciated by the students and faculty.
In recognition of this gift, the Picherack Family Fund Seminar Room is being named in honour of John Richard “Ritchie” Picherack, (UWO, 1964, U of T, 1970), who was Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Thunder Bay from 1978 to 1982.
As for the washrooms, it has always been Frances’ vision to create something more than a utilitarian space. “A washroom allows you to collect your thoughts and regroup,” she explains. “It is a private space where one can momentarily ‘step into’ and ‘step out of’ the fast-paced challenges of student life.”
Frances Picherack is proud that her former high school, the “great rampart on the hill,” now stands as the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law on the shores of the “Great Gitchee Gumee.”
And Lakehead University is very honoured by the generosity and loyalty that Frances and the Picherack family have shown us. Thank you!