The chapel was a gift of German-American Henry John Heinz, founder of the H.J. Heinz Company, who wanted to honor his mother, Anna Margaretta Heinz, with a building at the university. Upon his death in 1919, Heinz's three surviving children (Howard, Irene, and Clifford) added to his bequest in order to memorialize their grandmother and honor their father. Their choice of a chapel for a memorial was guided by the concepts of education and religion which Anna Margaretta Heinz imbued in her children.