$43.2 million naming gift to law school from Donald P. Klekamp and family

The University of Cincinnati College of Law is poised to enter a new era after a transformative $43.2 million gift from the Klekamp family, a pledge that will not only rename the school as the Donald P. Klekamp College of Law but also profoundly reshape access, curricular depth, and the national profile of one of the nation’s oldest continuously operating law schools.

The family’s gift, approved by the UC Board of Trustees and formally announced in late March 2026, marks the largest single contribution in the law school’s nearly 200‑year history, underscoring both the Klekamps’ enduring ties to Cincinnati and their long pattern of investing in the region’s legal and civic infrastructure.

At the heart of the gift is Donald P. Klekamp, a 1957 graduate of Cincinnati’s law program who went on to become a founding partner of Keating Muething & Klekamp (KMK Law), a prominent Cincinnati‑based corporate law firm that has grown into one of the region’s most influential legal practices.

Klekamp’s early career unfolded at what was then a small, three‑lawyer firm started by Charles Keating and John Muething, a partnership that Klekamp joined in 1959 and helped scale into a firm now employing roughly 240 legal and administrative professionals. His résumé reads like a who’s‑who of Cincinnati’s corporate and civic life: he served as an original shareholder and director of Cintas, and sat on several boards, including those of major regional institutions, while also maintaining a decades‑long relationship with the law school as both alumnus and donor.

The Klekamp family’s giving at UC Law is not new; prior to this record‑setting gift, Donald and his late wife, Marianne (a 1956 UC graduate herself), had already established the Donald P. Klekamp Professorship of Law and underwritten the Donald P. Klekamp Community Law Center, the new home of the Legal Aid Society in Cincinnati.

Those earlier commitments signaled a household that viewed the law school as a pipeline for both legal excellence and public‑service‑minded attorneys, an orientation that now appears to be baked into the DNA of the $43.2 million pledge. The family’s broader philanthropy extends beyond the university: the Klekamps have also supported Xavier University and St. Xavier High School with scholarships and endowments, and have contributed to community organizations such as Best Point Education & Behavioral Health, where they funded the creation of the Marianne Klekamp Music Center.

This latest gift is structured as a multi‑year commitment, with funds earmarked for four core pillars at the law school: a robust scholarship program, experiential learning, student success initiatives, and the Corporate Law Center.

The scholarship component in particular is expected to dramatically expand access for students from lower‑ and middle‑income backgrounds, in a city where legal training has long been a key rung on the regional mobility ladder. By tying the gift to experiential learning, the Klekamp family is also backing a model that emphasizes clinics, externships, and practice‑oriented instruction, positioning the law school to better align with the evolving demands of in‑house and corporate legal departments around the region.

For the Klekamp family, the gift is not only a tribute to Donald’s legacy but also a strategic bet on the future of Cincinnati‑based corporate law and civic leadership. The naming of the Donald P. Klekamp College of Law formally embeds one of the city’s most respected legal entrepreneurs into the institutional fabric of the school, potentially deepening ties between alumni networks, KMK Law, and the broader Cincinnati corporate ecosystem.

University President Neville Pinto has framed the pledge as a “defining moment” for UC, arguing that the Klekamp‑era investment will allow the law school to attract higher‑caliber applicants, bolster its national rankings, and strengthen its pipeline into major law firms, public‑interest organizations, and government roles.

Beyond the Klekamps’ direct relationship with UC Law, the size and timing of the gift place it in a broader wave of family‑linked philanthropy in Greater Cincinnati, where several prominent donor families have recently announced multi‑tens‑of‑millions‑of‑dollars commitments to higher education.

The Klekamp gift to UC Law follows a separate $60 million planned‑giving pledge from the same family to Xavier University, which is focused on financial aid, scholarships, and the Williams College of Business, further illustrating how the Klekamp household is treating education as a central pillar of its legacy. In that context, the UC Law naming looks less like an isolated act of generosity and more like the culmination of a lifetime of civic engagement and a deliberate effort to anchor Cincinnati’s legal and business leadership in the region for decades to come.

As the law school prepares to formally adopt the Donald P. Klekamp College of Law banner in the coming months, administrators say they see the Klekamp gift as a catalyst for a broader reimagining of how a mid‑sized, urban law school can compete in a national market increasingly dominated by elite private institutions.

For the Klekamp family, the gesture feels like a full‑circle moment: from a Cincinnati‑born student who earned his law degree in 1957 with financial assistance, to a legal entrepreneur who helped build one of the region’s leading firms, and finally to a donor whose name will now adorn the very institution that launched his career and continues to shape the city’s legal and civic life.