The Fritz and Ellen Holzgrefe Family Library Endowment was established in 1993 by the late Ellen and Frederick J. “Fritz” Holzgrefe Jr. (’64). Fritz was the president of Agrivest, Inc., a swine management and service company in Indiana. He and Ellen are the parents of two Notre Dame graduates: Fritz III and his spouse, Mary Jo (Fogerty), are members of the Class of 1990; daughter Regis and her husband, James Watson Jr., are 1997 graduates.

The Fritz and Ellen Holzgrefe Family Library Endowment allows the Hesburgh Libraries to take advantage of special opportunities to acquire rare resources. Two items of note as funded through general library endowment funds is a three-year subscription to Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessment, a product including over 200 reports on UN recognized countries, territories, and commonwealths, and the Joint Publications Research Service Reports, 1957-1994, which is an archive of intelligence-related scientific, technical, and social science materials. In addition, this fund enables the libraries to embark on special projects in support of teaching and research and to remain on the cutting edge of technology, bringing electronic resources to students’ desktops and participating in consortial relationships that favorably affect the cost of such resources.

The Holzgrefes were longtime Sorin Society members and also supported the performing arts and College of Science.