Three generations of the Loeks family have come together to make a $250,000 contribution to the new Law School building through a matching challenge, which has inspired other alumni in western Michigan to join in supporting the building project.
The Loeks family includes three Michigan Law alumni, Barrie Lawson Loeks, ’79, her nephew Ari Gilder, ’03, and her niece Jenna Clemens, ’07, in addition to her daughter, Jamie Loeks, who is a current Law School student. They’re joined by Barrie’s husband Jim, BGS ’78, and Jim’s mother, Ruth S. Loeks of Grand Rapids, “who is thrilled that three of her grandchildren have attended 
the Law School, and knows how much the University means to Jim and to all of us,” says Barrie Loeks, adding that “Ruth is a great booster of Michigan, and with our family spread all over the country, she realizes that the University of Michigan is a wonderful tie that will always connect us with the state.”
A longtime volunteer for the Law School, Barrie Loeks has been involved with the building project for more than 10 years. “The Law Quad is a really special place for all Law School alumni, and it’s wonderful to have a project that will give the School the space it desperately needs while complementing the beauty of the Quad. We’ve been working on this for a long time, and we’re very motivated to help get the building underway.”
But the family recognizes that the uncertain economy is, for many alumni, a stumbling block to giving. Hence the idea of a challenge, with up to $250,000 in gifts matched by the Loeks family, with the goal of raising a total of $500,000 for the building.
It’s also a teachable moment. “We’re trying to create a template and a tradition for the next generation of the family to be supporters of the Law School,” Loeks says.
Barrie and Jim Loeks are now retired from their careers in the entertainment industry and have moved from New York back to their Michigan roots where they are enjoying the pursuit of new opportunities and creative projects—Jim as a painter, Barrie as a writer. She just finished her first novel, a mystery set in a milieu she knows well: the movie theater business.