The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame announced that the late Wm. David Solomon, associate professor of philosophy emeritus and founding director of the center, has been named the recipient of the 15th annual Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal, the nation’s most important award for heroes of the pro-life movement. The medal will be presented to Solomon’s family at a special Mass and dinner May 1, 2026, at the University of Notre Dame.

Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, reflected on the significance of Solomon’s enduring impact. “Professor Solomon left a lasting legacy at Our Lady’s University — one of sincere pursuit of the truth in friendship and dialogue, and an unflagging commitment to the inherent dignity of all human life,” Father Dowd said. “That legacy lives on through the efforts of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, which he founded, as it shares the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research and dialogue. Notre Dame is deeply grateful for David’s transformative leadership and vision, and it is a special joy to honor his legacy with the Evangelium Vitae Medal.”

“David Solomon was a beloved scholar who dedicated his considerable talent to upholding the dignity of every human life with a generous spirit of hospitality,” said Jennifer Newsome Martin, director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. “His entire career as a professor, colleague and mentor was a joyful witness to the magnetic power of the University’s distinctive Catholic mission to attract people from across the disciplines to build and sustain ‘a culture of life and civilization of love.’”

A native of Texas, Solomon earned his B.A. at Baylor University and his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Texas before joining the Notre Dame faculty in 1968. Over the course of nearly five decades, his teaching and scholarship focused on 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 at the University of Notre Dame with a bold vision to share the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition and bring the University’s voice into the public discussion of the most vital issues of our day. The center would build its work upon the charge of the University’s Task Force on Ethics, which affirmed that “normative teaching and inquiry at Notre Dame should be distinguished by fidelity to the core convictions of the tradition of thought Notre Dame has inherited: that human beings are created in the image of a God who loves us and calls us to eternal life; that we therefore have a dignity which cannot be alienated, overridden, or ignored; and that the most vulnerable among us have the most urgent claim on the consciences of us all.”

Under Solomon’s leadership, the Center for Ethics and Culture launched signature initiatives that established a community of scholars and students to consider enduring questions of justice, human dignity and the common good in friendship and community. He established the Fall Conference, now Notre Dame’s largest interdisciplinary academic gathering, which annually welcomes more than 1,200 guests and 150 speakers from around the world for three days of reflection and dialogue on broad topics in ethics, culture and public policy today. He also oversaw Notre Dame’s annual Medical Ethics Conference, which drew experts and professionals from across the country to engage with pressing issues in medical ethics and bioethics at the intersection of health care and human dignity.

In 2011, Solomon established two of the Center for Ethics and Culture’s landmark culture of life initiatives. The annual Vita Institute was designed to provide an intensive intellectual formation program for leaders working to build a culture of life both nationally and internationally, with a focus on questions in social science, biology, philosophy, theology, law and communication. That year, Solomon also inaugurated the Evangelium Vitae Medal itself, envisioning it as an enduring celebration of heroic individuals whose life work proclaims the gospel of life. The center also supported the University’s participation in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., leading Notre Dame students, faculty and staff in a joyful public witness to the dignity of all human life.

In all, Solomon ensured that the center remained a place of hospitality, friendship and joyful Christian witness, animated by his belief that dialogue and camaraderie are essential to the pursuit of truth. “David Solomon was one of Notre Dame’s most beloved and dedicated teachers, a shining light of creativity and dynamism in its philosophy department, and the visionary founder of what is now called the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture,” said O. Carter Snead, the Charles E. Rice Professor of Law and Solomon’s successor as director of the center. “He was a tireless and courageous voice at Notre Dame on behalf of the intrinsic equal dignity of all members of the human family, born and unborn. His passing earlier this year was heartbreaking for us all, and presenting the 2026 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal to his family is a fitting tribute to David’s tremendous legacy as a true champion for life.”

Solomon’s own life bore witness to the transformative power of the faith he so joyfully served. Born and raised a Southern Baptist, he and his wife, Lou, were received into the Catholic Church in May 2024. He died Feb. 26, 2025, leaving behind a legacy of scholarship, friendship and faith that continues to inspire all who knew him.

The Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal, named after Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, is awarded annually by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture to honor individuals and organizations whose outstanding contributions have advanced the proclamation of the sanctity of human life.

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. Registration for the 2026 Evangelium Vitae Medal Mass and dinner will be available through the de Nicola Center’s website in early 2026. For more information, visit ethicscenter.nd.edu/programs/culture-of-life/evangelium-vitae-medal/.

Originally published by Kenneth Hallenius at ethicscenter.nd.edu on Oct. 5.