PITTSBURGH, Oct. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Duquesne University President Ken Gormley has announced that Jim and Celeste Nasuti have made a transformational gift to Duquesne for its College of Osteopathic Medicine. The medical school will now be named the Nasuti College of Osteopathic Medicine, in recognition of the Nasuti family providing Duquesne one of the two largest philanthropic commitments in its history.
Dr. John Kaufmann (far left), dean of Duquesne’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, Jim and Celeste Nasuti (center) and Duquesne President Ken Gormley (far right) join with medical students to celebrate the Nasuti’s gift to the university.
Gormley announced the gift during the University’s Homecoming celebrations. The gift from the Nasuti family is the second largest gift commitment in Duquesne’s nearly 150-year history. The University is honoring the family’s request to keep the precise amount of the gift confidential, instead celebrating its impact on future medical students and on Duquesne’s ability to become a leader in health care education, which is the family’s principal focus.
“To have a couple with such meaningful connections to Duquesne and Pittsburgh emerge and provide such transformational philanthropic support for our medical school is truly inspirational,” said Gormley. “A significant portion of the funding will be used for scholarships, so that students who want to attend this mission-focused medical school will have that opportunity. This will enable our highly trained graduates of the Nasuti College of Osteopathic Medicine to go on and serve others in myriad ways.”
Jim Nasuti, a 1970 Duquesne graduate, and Celeste Bahl Nasuti, a Pittsburgh native, are co-founders of Summerwood, a Conshohocken, Pa.-based company that operates more than 200 Taco Bell and KFC franchises across six states. Their gift will support scholarships and faculty development, helping to ensure access to medical education for aspiring physicians committed to service.
“We are just honored to be associated with such an excellent project,” said Jim Nasuti. “The world needs doctors. Plus, Duquesne adds that important consideration of service and helping people, going back to its founding purpose to help immigrants to Pittsburgh.”
Celeste Nasuti added, “This is a family decision and a family commitment. Our children are involved in our business and in this gift. We believe in Duquesne’s mission and its people.”
The connection of the Nasuti family to Duquesne runs deep. Jim attended Duquesne after graduating from Holy Ghost Preparatory School, a sister Spiritan institution in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Celeste’s family has longstanding ties to Duquesne, including her late parents. Both her father and mother were Duquesne students in the 1930s, and her father also graduated from Duquesne Prep.
“The Nasutis’ care for people aligns with our Spiritan commitment to developing authentic relationships,” said the Rev. John Fogarty, C.S.Sp., U.S. Provincial of the Spiritans. “It’s wonderful to have people that have modeled that work serve as benefactors for the school, and to see a connection all the way from Holy Ghost Prep to Duquesne to now!”
Diane Hupp, Chair of Duquesne’s Board of Directors and CEO of UPMC Children’s Hospital, emphasized the societal impact of the gift: “We need highly qualified doctors, especially primary care doctors, and their gift is serving a crucial good for our society. We are honored to be the home of the Nasuti College of Osteopathic Medicine at this special university.”
SOURCE Duquesne University
