10/1 - The University of Scranton Dedicates Keating House and Timlin House

The University of Scranton dedicated two townhouse units at Mulberry Plaza in a recent ceremony held. Keating House, celebrating the life and example of Robert J. and Flora S. Keating, was presented to the university to honor Thomas F. and Flora K. Karam. Timlin House recognizes the lifelong dedication of the Most Rev. James C. Timlin, D.D., eighth Bishop of Scranton, devoted friend of the university.

Local businessman Robert J. Keating has been very active in the community for many years. Among his many professional accomplishments are serving as president of Parodi Cigar Corp., former chairman of the board for Parodi Industries, director and chairman of the board for Northeastern Bank of Pennsylvania, and director for Pennsylvania Enterprises, PG Energy/Pennsylvania Gas & Water Co.

Mr. Keating was named 1972 "Man of the Year" by United Tobacco and Allied Industries Catholic Appeal. He was also honored with the Marywood Presidential Medal for his activities with Marywood University's "Marywood Horizons," a long-range development program begun by the college in the early 1980s. He and his wife, the former Flora Suraci, have four children, Dominic J., Esq., Robert, Maria and Flora Ann (Fafi). Fafi Keating is the wife of The University of Scranton Trustee Thomas F. Karam, a graduate of the Class of 1981.

Bishop Timlin was born Aug. 5, 1927, in Scranton. He was ordained as a priest by the Most Rev. Martin J. O'Connor, D.D., on July 16, 1951. He studied theology in Rome before being assigned to the Scranton Diocese in 1952, where he served as assistant pastor at St. John the Evangelist Church, Pittston, and St. Peter's Cathedral, Scranton, respectively. In 1966, he was named Assistant Chancellor of the Diocese and Secretary to the Most Rev. J. Carroll McCormick, D.D., Sixth Bishop of Scranton. He held several other prestigious positions within the Diocese until His Holiness, Pope John Paul II appointed him Eighth Bishop of Scranton, on April 24, 1984.

Mulberry Plaza consists of four townhouse units, accommodating 141 upperclassmen. Each three-story, 1,000 square foot townhouse provides a mix of duplex and flat-style apartments from one to six bedrooms. The residential facility has received honorable mention from the prestigious design awards program honoring design excellence from the Boston Society of Architecture, the largest branch of the American Institute of Architects.