early 1990s, Connelly pledged $13 million of the $20 million required to build the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a hotel at the Vatican where cardinals and other dignitaries would stay on visits to the Vatican (and where they stay during elections of Popes). When he made the pledge his shares of President Casinos were worth $107 million but by 1996 his share of stock was valued at $14.7 million. Connelly cut the pledge to $7 million and received a contract to exclusively sell reproductions of Vatican art in the United States. However, the deal was eventually halted after he could not market the art beyond Pittsburgh. His donations to Saint Louis University resulted in the school renaming the main dividing street for the campus from "West Pine Mall Boulevard" to "John E. Connelly Mall". Death and legacy Connelly died of congestive heart failure on May 16, 2009, at his home in Indiana Township, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. He was survived by a sister and a brother, a daughter and three sons, and 13 grandchildren. Connelly's wife, Josephine, whom he had married in 1950, died in 1996. References External links 1925 births 2009 deaths American businesspeople in shipping American casino industry businesspeople Businesspeople from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Democrats 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople