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WILKES-BARRE — It was a Sheraton before it was a Ramada before it was purchased and renovated by King’s College to house several health science programs. As of Tuesday afternoon the building most recently known as “King’s on the Square” had one more name change, re-dedicated as the Richard Abbas Alley Center for Health Sciences.

Alley, a doctor of Syrian descent, made a lead donation to King’s of $1 million. He also provided a collection of art and artifacts gathered from around the world now on display in the building lobby: Necklaces from Niger, sand painting from the Tuareg people of Syria, an Aztec plate, an Uzbek knife, a Toucan statue from Brazil and palm-sized metal llama from Peru, to name a few.

King’s Vice President for Institutional Advancement Frederick Pettit opened the brief rededication ceremony noting the roughly 100 people in the lobby were gathered “to celebrate the spark of hope” that such philanthropy brings to King’s and to downtown Wilkes-Barre.

King’s President the Rev. Jack Ryan quoted a commencement speech “delivered by a very respected world leader.” Asked who inspires him, the speaker replied “It is those quiet heroes all across our country, your parents and grandparents sitting here. No fanfare, no articles written about them. They just persevere. They do their jobs. They meet their responsibilities. They don’t quit. They may not have set out to change the world, but in small, important ways they did.”

Ryan called Alley’s parents, who immigrated from Ottoman Syria in 1896, “ordinary people who do extraordinary things,” building a business and becoming community leaders. “It has often been said that parents not only make children but that children make parents. Through the life of Dr. Richard Alley we get a glimpse of his parents,” Ryan said, “He not only cared for people, he cares about people.”

Alley spoke briefly about his parents fleeing the oppression and forced military service of their home country and coming to the United States. He thanked Ryan and King’s College board of trustees “for giving me the opportunity to honor my father and mother.”

Alley said his father “found that the key to the American dream was very hard work and education. He also found that in America for every right there is a responsibility. a responsibility to one’s family, one’s community, one’s country and one’s God.”

King’s purchased the former hotel and spent $17 million for complete renovations that created student resident space in the upper floors with classrooms and other education space on the lower floors. The building houses the physician assistant studies, exercise science and athletic training programs.

An anonymous donation back then paid for repairs and upgrades to the Glockenspiel, which had sat shuttered and dormant for a decade, with a bell high above Public Square that became a curiosity to those who had never seen the characters emerge and pivot to “ring” it. Along with restoring the chimes and mechanisms, King’s had two new figures created, one of the school mascot Leo the Lion and another of Mr. Peanut, the iconic figure of Planter’s Peanuts, a company born in Wilkes-Barre.

The building originally had a bistro called Zime, but that was replaced with Wyoming Valley’s first Chick-fil-A after King’s inked a new food service contract with Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services in 2016.

King’s also donated space in and outside of the building to the area’s coal mining heritage. Sue Hand’s epic artwork “The Anthracite Miners and Their Hollowed Ground” is on permanent display in the lobby. Hand spent seven years researching and creating the exhibit, originally some 300 hexagons depicting a vast array of tidbits profound and sublime from the region’s coal mining history. King’s also set up a miners memorial in a courtyard outside.

And a room was set aside on the first floor to house items commemorating the Rev. Josef Murgas, a local priest who also was a well-regarded artist and a pioneer in wireless radio.

Dr. Richard Alley delivers remarks for the dedication of the Richard Abbas Alley Center for Health Sciences in the former King’s on the Square in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL121819kings-mg_2-1.jpg.optimal.jpgDr. Richard Alley delivers remarks for the dedication of the Richard Abbas Alley Center for Health Sciences in the former King’s on the Square in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Dr. Richard Alley, center, chats with Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George and City Administrator Richard Gazenski before the dedication of the Richard Abbas Alley Center for Health Sciences in the former King’s on the Square in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL121819kings-mg_3-1.jpg.optimal.jpgDr. Richard Alley, center, chats with Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George and City Administrator Richard Gazenski before the dedication of the Richard Abbas Alley Center for Health Sciences in the former King’s on the Square in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Dr. Richard Alley, left, shakes hands with King’s College President the Rev. Jack Ryan after delivering remarks for the dedication of the Richard Abbas Alley Center for Health Sciences in the former King’s on the Square in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL121819kings-mg_1-1.jpg.optimal.jpgDr. Richard Alley, left, shakes hands with King’s College President the Rev. Jack Ryan after delivering remarks for the dedication of the Richard Abbas Alley Center for Health Sciences in the former King’s on the Square in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

By Mark Guydish

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INSIDE

With dedication, King’s College adds onto its legacy. 9A

Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish