The Sunday Star Tribune carries a regular 'Minnesota History' section, which I enjoy and have used as a source for blog postings. Anticipating St Patrick's Day, the March 15 newspaper featured a story about oil tycoon and philanthropist Ignatius Aloysius O'Shaughnessy (1885-1973).

What a name! O'Shaughnessy's grandfather and father were both Irish-born boot-makers named John. When a 13th child was born to John (the younger) and his wife Mary Ann in 1885, they'd apparently run out of the usual good Catholic names like John, James and Joseph, not to mention William, Michael and Patrick. They looked to the Calendar of Saints for a name and their new baby became Ignatius, nicknamed Nashe (pronounced naysh).

O'Shaughnessy's biography, That Great Heart, has been penned by Doug Hennes, former editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The book chronicles the quirks of fate of Nashe's early life as well as the prodigious philanthropy of his later years. O'Shaughnessy made big money by buying oil leases in Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois and building refineries. His name is well-known in the Twin Cities as it adorns the libraries and auditoriums he funded. Just one of O'Shaughnessy's many charitable causes was his alma mater, St. Thomas University, to which he gave nearly $100 million (in 2014 dollars).

James Shannon, St. Thomas president from 1956-66, was quoted following O'Shaughnessy's death, "Unique is a strong word ... but Ignatius Aloysius O'Shaughnessy was a unique human person. He was brilliant, tough, relaxed, determined, incisive, devout, witty, generous and a thoroughly lovely man."