Robert and Ann Lyons Memorial Fund

When Robert Lyons Jr. and his six siblings were growing up, they were loved unconditionally and always encouraged to be their own people.

Their mother, Ann Lyons, who was known as Nancy, made certain that each of her children developed their own interests and passions. “We all had our own growing-up experience,” Robert Lyons Jr. said. “We are all different individuals now. Our mom was very proud of all of us with respect to our own walks in life.”

Nancy filled the Lyons’ home with music and flowers from her garden, and she imbued it with a deep and abiding faith. “Seven days a week, she would pray a rosary for each of us on our day,” he said. “If I was a Wednesday, she’d pray for me, and on Thursday she’d pray for another of my siblings. Faith was front and center throughout her life. If you think of a walking saint, she comes pretty close.”

Their father, Robert Lyons Sr., worked at and then led the family business, the Bilco Company, the basement and metal door manufacturing firm in West Haven, a company spanning three generations. An inveterate designer, he held 40 patents for his inventions.

“He loved his work, and he loved his family,” Robert Lyons Jr. said. “For his 100th birthday, we made a word cloud for him. His children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren all chose words that represented him and it was a masterpiece of all of his characteristics and qualities. Right in the middle were the words, ‘loving’ and ‘kindness.’ Those were words that everybody chose.”

The Lyons’ 71-year marriage was also filled with love. “Even in their 90s, before my mom passed, they were blowing kisses to each other. They grew old together and loved each other right to the end,” Lyons Jr. said.

The Lyons often had a full house — for family dinners, backyard barbecues and gatherings with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, extended family and their many friends.

Nancy Lyons died in 2021. When Robert Lyons Sr. died in May, 2024, their seven children chose to honor them by establishing the Robert and Ann Lyons Memorial Fund at The Community Foundation.

The designated fund will support two organizations the couple cared deeply about — Yale New Haven Hospital’s McGivney Advanced Surgery Center at the Saint Raphael Campus and Catholic Family Charities.

Nancy Lyons was a longtime volunteer at the Church of St. Rita as a Eucharistic minister, CCD teacher and choir member. She cared about the work of Catholic Family Charities.

“My dad was very active in the community and served on boards; and his alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was very important to him,” Robert Lyons Jr. said. “He spent quite a bit of time with Sister Anne Virginie (who for decades led the Hospital of St. Raphael), and he devoted much of his philanthropy and community leadership time to St. Raphael’s Hospital.” While he volunteered for many organizations and boards, “the hospital was very near and dear to him,” Robert Lyons Jr. said.

The family chose to create the fund at The Community Foundation because they knew of the impact of The Foundation’s work and the commitment of the staff members to the Greater New Haven community.

“After my father passed, we reached out to Foundation staff, and they turned on a dime for us,” he said. “Everything went smoothly, and it has been exactly what we would have hoped for.”

“I see the fund as a legacy of our parents’ generosity to the community existing in perpetuity, supporting two organizations that provide benefits to others in the world.”