The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture presented the 2026 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal—the nation’s most important award for heroes of the pro-life movement—to the family of the late Wm. David Solomon, associate professor of philosophy emeritus and founding director of the Center, at a Mass and dinner attended by more than 400 guests on May 1, 2026, at the University of Notre Dame.

A member of the philosophy faculty at Notre Dame for almost 50 years, Solomon taught and researched in the areas of virtue ethics, ethical theory, and medical ethics, shaping the minds of countless students and inspiring colleagues across the disciplines. In 1999, Solomon founded the Center for Ethics and Culture, where he served as director until 2012. He retired from teaching in 2016 and passed away in 2025.

“[Solomon’s] philosophical work in bioethics, virtue ethics, and medical ethics, the founding of the Center, his joyful pro-life commitments and labors on behalf of the unborn, his devotion to the thought of Pope John Paul II, his extraordinary generosity as a teacher and doctoral advisor, his self-giving love of his dear wife, children, and extended family, and his love for his friends—who were and are without number—cohered into an extraordinarily integrated life that sprang from the abundance of a festive, jubilant heart,” said Jennifer Newsome Martin, director of the de Nicola Center and John J. Cavanaugh Associate Professor of the Humanities, in the medal citation. “If, as Evangelium Vitae states, the Gospel of Life is ‘celebrated above all in daily living, which should be filled with self-giving love for others’ . . . William David Solomon remains one of the truest exemplars of the ‘people of life and for life.’”

The presentation of the medal was preceded by a video tribute to Solomon’s work, featuring reflections from Bishop Kevin Rhoades (Fort Wayne–South Bend); O. Carter Snead, Charles E. Rice Professor of Law and director of the de Nicola Center from 2012 to 2024; Stanley Hauerwas (Duke University); 2012 Evangelium Vitae medal recipient Helen Alvaré (Antonin Scalia Law School); and former students and colleagues of Solomon’s.

In remarks after receiving the medal on behalf of her late husband, Mary Louise Solomon spoke movingly about his work and legacy in terms of fortuity, blessing, and miracle. She reflected on their shared awakening to the pro-life cause and their journey as a couple toward the Catholic faith. Though raised as a Southern Baptist, “I think David started becoming Catholic almost as soon as we arrived here,” she noted. “Anyone on this campus breathes in this faith. It’s the reaction to that Catholic air that matters. David, who loved being here and learning everything, soaked it in.” The Solomons were received into full communion in the Catholic Church in 2024.

“I am sorry that I am standing here instead of David,” she concluded. “But I am quite sure that he is here with us now. And I am sure we all will agree that our being here this evening is a fortuity, a blessing, and certainly, for me, a miracle.”

During his tenure as founding director of the Center for Ethics and Culture, Solomon established the annual Fall Conference, now the University’s largest interdisciplinary academic conference, which gathers more than 1,200 guests and 150 speakers—both Catholic and those from other faith traditions—for three days of conversation and exchange on the most vexed questions of ethics, culture, and public policy. In 2011, Solomon established two of the Center for Ethics and Culture’s landmark culture of life initiatives: the annual Vita Institute, which provides intensive intellectual formation for leaders working to build a culture of life both nationally and internationally, as well as the Evangelium Vitae Medal, envisioned as an enduring celebration of individuals and organizations whose heroic work proclaims the gospel of life.

Rev. Gregory P. Haake, C.S.C., incoming Vice President for Mission Engagement and Church Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, delivered remarks before he offered the dinner blessing. He praised the work of the de Nicola Center to build and support, in the words of Pope St. John Paul II, “a civilization of truth and love”: “Through the tireless efforts of the de Nicola Center and its founding director David Solomon, who is just one among the exemplary models of this devotion to the ethic of life honored by the Evangelium Vitae medal, the Center challenges the cynicism and brutal pragmatism that is so contrary to the truth that we pursue and share, and contrary to the love that animates our desire for justice for those whose lives need defending.”

At the conclusion of the celebration, John P. O’Callaghan, professor of philosophy at Notre Dame and longtime friend and colleague, reflected on Solomon’s deep friendships as an expression of the gospel of life. “What David did in his wonderful life was to show us in so many countless ways how to give life to one another,” said O’Callaghan. “He knew, as Aquinas argued, that the life of grace is a participation in the kingdom of heaven already here and now, alive amongst here and now. Amidst all our faults, our wrong turns, our self-serving and isolation, David saw the blessedness of others here and now. And he loved us.”

O’Callaghan concluded, “David Solomon: apostolus evangelii vitae, ‘apostle of the good news of life.’ He has competed well; he has finished the race; he has kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits him, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to him on that day, and not only to him, but to all who have longed for His appearance.”

The Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal, named after Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical, is the nation’s most important lifetime achievement award for heroes of the pro-life movement, honoring individuals whose efforts have advanced the Gospel of Life by steadfastly affirming and defending the sanctity of human life from its earliest stages.

Announced annually on Respect Life Sunday, the first Sunday of October, the Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae award consists of a specially commissioned medal and $10,000 prize presented at a banquet following a celebratory Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Visit the de Nicola Center website for more information about the Evangelium Vitae Medal.