The Raymond and Mary Kennedy Family Library Preservation Fund was established in 1999 by the late Ray Kennedy and his wife, Mary. Both Ray and Mary were 1963 graduates of St. John’s University. Ray was a member of the Hesburgh Libraries Advisory Council and the Sorin Society until his untimely death in 2003. Today, Mary is a member of the Council. The Kennedys have three sons: Raymond (’87), Michael (’88), and Kevin (’90).

The Kennedy Preservation Fund assists the Hesburgh Libraries’ conservation and preservation efforts by saving at-risk members of distinguished collections and unique items that would otherwise be lost to future generations of scholars. Nearly 15,000 volumes from the Hesburgh Libraries collections receive preservation or conservation treatment per year. The work includes keeping the heavily used portions of the collections intact and usable, as well as a number of special projects targeted at distinguished or rare research collections. The endowment’s support of preservation in areas such as Catholic studies, Irish history, and the humanities — where books tend to have been published on brittle paper and research materials have fallen prey to ill-handling or environmental degradation — is critical to the survival of these valuable resources.

The family has also established the Ray and Mary Kennedy Family Endowed Collection in Irish Music and the Raymond and Mary Kennedy Family Library Endowment.