Co-Founder of Philadelphia-Based International Law Firm Cozen O'Connor P.C. Heads New Chairman’s Society at King’s College

King’s College today announced the formation of the Chairman’s Society, which honors benefactors who have contributed $1 million or more as part of a new initiative led by Patrick O’Connor ’64, a former board member who heads an international law firm based in Philadelphia that has more than 900 attorneys around the world.

The Chairman’s Society celebrates the benefactors behind some of the largest and most transformative investments on campus, including O’Connor Park, the Chapel of Christ the King, the George and Giovita Maffei Family Commons, the Kearney & Company Department of Accounting, the William G. McGowan School of Business, the Dr. Richard Abbas Alley Center for Health Sciences, and the Frank and Carolyn Kowalski Center for Advanced Healthcare Education.

O’Connor, who has been with the Cozen O’Connor P.C. since 1973, also served as chairman of Temple University’s board of trustees and as a current member of the board of Consultors for the Villanova University School of Law. He also served as a member and chairman of the Misericordia University board of trustees, as well as a member of the King's College board of directors from 1989 through 1996.

The Chairman’s Society was first introduced at a special dinner in May 2025 at the Westmoreland Club in Wilkes-Barre, which also featured special guest Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C., president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame and the College’s 2025 Spring Commencement speaker.

During his welcome, O’Connor shared his reasons for approaching the College about starting this initiative, which he hopes will inspire other alumni and friends of the college to consider similar investments in the future of its students.

“As you know, King’s was founded with the promise to educate the sons of coal miners,” O’Connor said. “It did that and much more. As a student at a local high school, I was blessed to have a scholarship to King's at a time when I did not have the wherewithal to pay tuition. I will never forget their kindness to me.”

“One of the greatest testaments of our mission’s impact is when friends and alumni of the college from all generations—many of whom themselves benefitted from a donor’s generosity—answer the call by sharing their professional success with a new generation,” said King’s College President Rev. Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C., Ph.D. “From investments in state-of-the-art learning facilities to comprehensive scholarships that give high-potential students the chance to become the first in their family to pursue a college degree, we could not ask for a better support network. Their investments transform student lives every day.”