Men and Women of the Decade

Birthplaces: Her, Mimai-him, St. Louis. Person they most admire: Helene’s mother. "She was a wonderful friend and an inspiration to us." Biggest learning experience in the last decade: "We’ve learned a lot from our children. We’ve learned not to be judgmental and to take life one day at a time." Most gratifying experience: "Our relationship. We have love, respect and passion." Message to their younger selves: "Don’t worry and be happy. Try not to hold onto anything, just go onto the next moment." Guilty pleasures: Good red wine. "We don’t collect it, we drink it." What Southwest Florida needs in the next decade: "To be concerned about conservation instead of growth. We need to retain the individuality and natural beauty that is left here."

Tom Monaghan
Founder of Ave Maria University

If there’s one thing tom Monaghan knows, it’s how to dream big. From humble beginnings in a Catholic orphanage, he willed himself to become a Marine and, later, a local business owner. Three decades after turning a tiny Ypsilanti, Mich., pizza shop into international powerhouse Domino’s Pizza, Monaghan found himself among the nation’s richest men with all of the worldly distractions millions of dollars can buy.

Monaghan then began to dream even bigger. A devout Roman Catholic, Monaghan took "a millionaire’s vow of poverty," and set out to create a new Catholic university and a new town in the scrubby farmland of eastern Collier County. And so Ave Maria was born. Today the school and the community are an all-consuming effort for the man who once traveled in his own private jet, owned the Detroit Tigers baseball team and lounged on a yacht named Domino Effect.

"I’m doing the best thing I know how to do with my resources," the soft-spoken Monaghan, 70, says modestly. "I feel very positive about attracting folks here to what I believe is a very beautiful place. This is paradise."

Ave Maria University continues to exceed recruiting goals and, even in a withering real estate market, the town is drawing new residents, he says. "The response we’ve received from everyone here, everyone involved, has been wonderful. Very supportive," he says.

And the man who once dreamed of being an architect is getting to see his very ambitious—and very spiritual—plans come to life in a growing school and a budding community.

Birthplace: Ann Arbor, Mich. Person he most admires: Mother Angelica, founder of Eternal World Television Network (EWTN). What he’d change about himself: "I’d be more humble and kind to others." Biggest challenge in the last 10 years: The process of moving Ave Maria University from Michigan to Florida. Life’s most gratifying experience: Founding Ave Maria University and partnering to build Ave Maria Town. Message to his younger self: More God and less "me." What he won’t talk about at cocktail parties? "My enemies." A book with special meaning: Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. People would be surprised to know: "That I used to have a bad (Irish) temper. That, and my capacity for food." His secret obsession: Always wanted to play shortstop for the Detroit Tigers. What the region needs most in the next decade: Strong, virtuous families.