Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | February 8, 2021 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F Groundbreaking woman lawyer bequeathed Holy Cross $24M V E R BAT I M Choosing CBD "We love cannabis and believe in the plant having more benefits than most people know. Trying to inform people and help is our main goal!" Gian Ranucci, co-founder of DreamCatcher Hemp Farm in Dudley and The CBD Farm Stand in Webster, discussing why he and his wife Bryanna opted into the cannabis industry Expanding westward "This is a huge step for us." Michael Kahn, president and founder of Framingham cannabis testing company MCR Labs, ahead of the company's announced expansion to Pennsylvania Billing rules "Companies must follow MassHealth billing regulations to ensure these critical resources are being allocated appropriately." Attorney General Maura Healey, discussing allegations of improper MassHealth billing against two adult day health centers in Marlborough and Lowell, who paid $1 million to settle the dispute T he College of the Holy Cross in Worcester has received its largest-ever estate gi: $23.5 million from a former member of the Worcester school's board of trustees, who along with her late husband – a famed lawyer and sports team owner – were generous contributors to the school. e gi, announced Jan. 22, was given by the estate of the late Agnes Neill Williams, who died March 4, and will launch the start of a new financial aid initiative aiming to raise $40 million for students by June 2022. Her gi will be used to match all new and increased annual gis to the college in support of financial aid. Williams was a member of the first class of Georgetown University Law School to graduate women, and she later joined her husband's Washington, D.C. law practice, according to a Holy Cross profile of her. Williams's husband, the late Edward Bennett Williams, who died in 1988, graduated Holy Cross in 1941 before he moved to Washington D.C. and rose in prominence as a lawyer and later a sports team owner, according to his New York Times obituary. As a lawyer, he represented famed clients like labor union boss Jimmy Hoffa; U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy following his anti-communist hearings; and John Hinckley, Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. Williams would later become part owner and president of the Washington Football Team, and then the majority BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor owner of the Baltimore Orioles. Following his death, she was asked to join the board of trustees and continued to give to the school. She established the Edward Bennett Williams Fellows Program and later the Agnes N. Williams Fund to help Holy Cross recruit faculty. e couple's son and granddaughter are also Holy Cross graduates. e new Hope + Access Campaign for Financial Aid, created with her $23.5-million gi, has a goal of ensuring all students admitted to Holy Cross have an opportunity to attend regardless of financial need. Holy Cross has been a major fundraiser in the past few years, including for its new newest campus buildings. e Joanne Chouinard-Luth Recreation and Wellness Center is named aer Joanne Chouinard-Luth and John Luth, a couple that has donated $40 million to Holy Cross, the most in its history. A $25-million gi from 1956 graduate Neil Prior paved the way for the construction of the Prior Performing Arts Center, which is slated to be complete this fall. W PHOTO/GRANT WELKER The College of the Holy Cross campus in Worcester

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