During Friday’s episode, in the category of “New York Colleges,” host Ken Jennings read out the prompt, hewing to the show’s inversion of the usual question-and-answer format: “In 2022 Tania Tetlow became the first layperson and the first woman to be president of this Jesuit university founded in the Bronx.”

The winning response—“What is Fordham?”—came from contestant Enzo Cunanan, a Cambridge University graduate student from Orlando, Florida.

Alex Trebek, Friend of Fordham

Billed as “America’s favorite quiz show,” Jeopardy! has aired in its current form since 1984, hosted for most of that time by Trebek, who died in 2020 at age 80 following a struggle with pancreatic cancer. He and his wife, Jean Trebek, had established a scholarship fund at Fordham, and they both received the Fordham Founder’s Award less than a year before his passing. Alex Trebek was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University in 2011.

The Trebeks’ scholarship is for students who come from East Harlem or Harlem, where their son, Matthew Trebek, FCRH ’13, runs a Mexican restaurant. In 2021, Matthew donated his late father’s wardrobe to a nonprofit that helps men coming back from homelessness and other struggles.

Alex Trebek said he was inspired to create a Fordham scholarship because of how his son’s Fordham education developed his intellect and leadership abilities and helped him become more well-rounded. “My hope for this scholarship,” Alex Trebek said in 2015, “is that it helps many other deserving students have that same transformational experience.”

After the TV star died on November 8, 2020, his son, Matthew Trebek, FCRH ’13, got the idea of donating much of his large assortment of clothes: 14 suits, 58 dress shirts, and 300 neckties, as well as shoes, belts, dress slacks, and other items.

The recipient? The Doe Fund, a nonprofit in New York City that Matthew Trebek has supported, which helps men coming back from homelessness, incarceration, and addiction who are seeking to rebuild their lives and find work.

“The Doe Fund made perfect sense, since these are guys who are going on job interviews and need second chances,” Matthew Trebek, a New York restaurateur, told The New York Times.

The management of Jeopardy! embraced the idea and helped deliver the clothes, the show announced on February 9. The items were sure to make an impact on the lives of those served by the Doe Fund, its president, Harriet McDonald, told CBS Weekend News.

“People lose a lot of dignity if they’re homeless or incarcerated, and then all of a sudden, they’re in a work environment,” she said. “If you wear a good suit—and, of course, whose suits could be better?—you fit in.”

A Host Who Gave the Utmost

Alex Trebek was beloved as the poised, cordial host of Jeopardy!, which he hosted for nearly four decades before succumbing to pancreatic cancer last November at the age of 80. Along with his wife, Jean Trebek, he was a prolific philanthropist who supported a variety of causes including World Vision, an international anti-poverty organization, and funded educational and cultural initiatives such as a public policy forum and innovation and challenge fund at the University of Ottawa, Trebek’s alma mater.

The Trebeks also created a scholarship fund at Fordham for students from north and east Harlem, reflecting their belief in the power of education, and they have given of their time to the University as well.

The University awarded Alex Trebek an honorary doctorate at its 2011 commencement ceremony and presented them with the Fordham Founder’s Award in January 2020 in Los Angeles.

Trebek emphasized kindness and empathy, telling the audience during one of his final Jeopardy! appearances, “We’re trying to build a gentler, kinder society, and if we all pitch in just a little bit, we’re going to get there.”

Matthew Trebek is co-owner of three Harlem restaurants—Oso, Lucille’s, and Pizza by Lucille’s—who also has a drive for service. He and his business partners created a weekly soup kitchen, Lucille’s Family Meal, for people in North Harlem living in poverty or transitional housing, as he told his mother in an interview on her web platform, insidewink. Held at St. Matthew’s Baptist Church, the soup kitchen aims for “a more dignified dining experience” for its guests, he said.

He told CBS Weekend News that his father would be pleased to see how his former wardrobe was being put to use.

“I think [it] just really falls in line with everything that he believed, and I think that would mean a lot to him.”

“Much as we loved Alex as the award-winning television host of Jeopardy!, I believe he came to mean more to Fordham—and to the public—as an educator and a spokesperson for the power of education,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “He gave knowledge and expertise a cachet among a broad audience in a time when those qualities seemed under assault in popular entertainment. Today we, and the world, grieve with his wife, Jean, and his children, Emily, Matthew, and Nicky, over the loss of this exceptional and compassionate man.”

From the moment Trebek arrived at the Rose Hill campus in 2009 with his son Matt Trebek, FCRH ’13, a prospective student at the time, to more than seven years after Matt graduated, Trebek and his wife Jean have been model University parents. Both gave generously, not just to the Alex Trebek Endowed Scholarship Fund they created, but of their time as well.

In 2011, the same year the University bestowed an honorary degree upon him, Trebek set time aside time from his busy schedule to host a Q&A with students from Rose Hill. He was celebrating 50 years in the industry at the time.

“There is a line that I heard not too long ago that goes, ‘Find something you’re good at, and if you really like doing it, you will never have to work a day in your life,” Trebek told the students. “That’s the way it’s been for me and broadcasting.”

His generosity of time continued through his illness, as was noted by Jeopardy! contestant Ed Condon, FCRH ’84. Cordon was a two-day champion on episodes that aired in October 2019.

“Alex Trebek is incredible because he’s doing all this stuff he doesn’t have to do,” Condon said at the time, noting that despite his illness Trebek spent hours with contestants and the studio audience, talking to them and answering their questions.

Receiving the Fordham Founder’s Award

His steadfast dependability was on display on Jan. 7 when the Trebeks were honored with the Fordham Founder’s Award at a special award ceremony held in Los Angeles. Trebek arrived straight from the studio, still in makeup after recording five episodes of Jeopardy!. It was the first time the statuette of Fordham founder Archbishop John Hughes was presented outside of New York City.

The award citation noted that in his more than three decades of hosting Jeopardy! Trebek received numerous accolades, including six Daytime Emmys (now seven) and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Television Academy. In 2011, the show received a Peabody Award for “encouraging, celebrating, and rewarding knowledge” while maintaining “a model of integrity and decorum.”

On bestowing the Founder’s award, Father McShane underscored what Trebek has meant to millions of viewers.

“He’s a brilliant man who is the nation’s schoolteacher, let’s admit that. As the host of Jeopardy!, he is our schoolteacher and we look forward to going to school every evening,” he said.

Trebek was visibly moved during his acceptance speech at the event. He spoke of how his Catholic upbringing helped him amidst the cancer treatments.

“If there’s one thing I have discovered in the past year it is that power of prayer,” he said, holding back tears. “I learned it from the Jesuits when I was a kid, l learned it from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate when I was in boarding school,” he said.

A Canadian-American Success Story

A native of Sudbury, Ontario, Trebek attended Jesuit grade schools that laid a foundation for the two degrees in philosophy he eventually earned at the University of Ottawa. In a 2008 interview with CBC, Trebek was asked why he studied philosophy. He provided a rather Jesuitical response.

“I got into philosophy to figure out what on earth I was doing on earth,” he said.

He said in the interview that he had “drifted into broadcasting” and found it to be a good fit. Yet, even as his chosen profession took him toward gameshows, he said he favored competitions that required contestants “to win the old-fashioned way, earning it.”

“They have to be bright; they have to know something,” he said.

Trebek was first noticed by American viewers in 1973 when he hosted the NBC game show Wizard of Odds.  After several other hosting roles, he was chosen to host Jeopardy! He was a hit with viewers and soon became a pop culture icon, setting the world record for hosting the most episodes of a game show.

Lance Strate, Ph.D., professor of communication and media studies, said that for many Americans, having Trebek in their homes night after night gave them a sense that they knew him.

“We knew him parasocially, which is to say we knew him, but he didn’t know us,” said Strate. “Alex Trebek is the teacher we all wanted to have growing up.”

Strate said that the game show host also evoked an earlier time when radio was the primary medium and quiz shows celebrated the spoken word.

“Jeopardy! has been a throwback in contrast to recent game show formats that have morphed into reality TV and are more visual and action-oriented,” he said. “With the focus on text and words, that put much more emphasis on the host. He became a much more powerful presence because of that, and that’s also why his loss is felt so profoundly.”

He added that Trebek also represented the idea that one could get ahead by the strength of one’s mind rather than by luck.

“In a sense, he symbolized the idea of college itself—that education is important, and it is something that continues,” he said.

Family Life

Throughout his career, Trebek led a rich family life. Over the years, he remained a devoted father to Nicky Trebek, whom he adopted during his first marriage to her mother, Elaine Callei Trebek. The couple separated in the early ’80s.

He met Long Island native Jean Currivan—a businesswoman, author, and spiritual counselor—at a party in New York in 1988. They married two years later and had two children together: Emily and Matthew. The siblings both chose Jesuit schools for college. Emily graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2015 and went on to a career in real estate. Matthew graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 2013 and, like his father, earned a degree in philosophy.

Matthew now lives in Harlem and owns and runs three restaurants there: Oso, a Mexican restaurant at 140th and Amsterdam Avenue; Pizza by Lucille’s; and Lucille’s Coffee & Cocktails. The last two are named for his grandmother and located at 150th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. His chosen university and neighborhood have become part of his parents’ lives as well.

“I have seen the benefits of a Fordham education close up,” Trebek told Fordham News in 2015. “My son’s career at the University not only sharpened his intellect but helped him develop as a leader and a well-rounded person.”

In a 2016 interview with Fordham Magazine, Matthew said that while his father doesn’t necessarily share in devotion to food—“He would be fine eating chicken, white rice, and broccoli for the rest of his life”— he shared an appreciation of his son’s adoptive home.

Giving Back

In 2015, the Trebeks established the Alex Trebek Endowed Scholarship Fund with a gift of $1 million.  Four years later they made an additional gift of $1 million to the fund, which supports students from North Harlem and East Harlem.

“We have a soft spot for Harlem,” Jean Trebek told Fordham News last year.

At the ceremony, Jean said that she and her husband find the very idea of how a scholarship can change a life “awe-inspiring.”

One of the Trebek scholarship recipients, Joel Gomez FCRH ’19, said that even though he knew Trebek was ill, the news of his passing still came as a surprise.

“Just seeing the news, it comes as a shock. He’s Alex Trebek, he’s been hosting Jeopardy! for as long as I’ve been around,” said Gomez. “The first thing I thought about was the scholarship that I was gifted through him. I tweeted out thank you.”

Gomez attended a high school in the South Bronx where the student body was “about 98 percent men of color.” He stressed that the gift’s geographic emphasis was good for him and the University as a whole.

“It’s important to see that the University caters to different students,” he said. “Giving help to students like me lets me absorb different cultures and that experience is really important.”

Gomez took note of Trebek’s Canadian background and appreciated how the gift crossed boundaries and cultures.

“I think it’s exciting, he grew up in a completely different culture and to give back later to a whole different community—it’s pretty dope,” he said.

In their philanthropy, the Trebeks have supported World Vision, an international anti-poverty organization, as well as many other humanitarian and educational organizations. They also established a forum on public policy issues and an innovation/challenge fund at the University of Ottawa.

“You think Alex Trebek is a good man; you don’t know the half of it,” Father McShane said at the Founder’s ceremony in L.A. “He teaches us about how to live each day with purpose, with focus, with determination, with love, and without being obsessed with oneself. All that he does is outwardly directed.”

‘Everything Is Possible’

At the L.A. event, Father McShane said that by publicly sharing his journey with cancer, Trebek had actually evolved his role to that of minister. He then asked the crowd to say the Lord’s Prayer for Trebek and his “ministry.”

The gesture threw Trebek slightly off-balance before he regained composure by holding his wife’s hand and entering a state of prayer.

In his acceptance speech, he reflected on what gives meaning to one’s life.

“If you have compassion in your heart, everything is possible, peace everywhere is possible,” Trebek said. “If we are able to affect society in a positive way then our lives will not be for naught.”

Trebek is survived by his wife and children. His final episodes of Jeopardy! will air through Dec. 25.

The dinner was also set to celebrate the close of Faith and Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid, which surpassed its goal of $175 million by bringing in a grand total of $175,311,288. The campaign supported existing scholarship funds and nearly 200 new scholarship funds for students—including Fulbright scholars, community leaders, and first-generation college students.

“In a year when nothing has run as usual, and we have all had more than our share of disappointments, I am incredibly proud of our Fordham Founder’s honorees and donors for their generosity and openheartedness toward our peerless Founder’s Scholars,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University. “Despite your own very real concerns about your health and that of your loved ones, and all the uncertainties with which the pandemic has presented us, you stepped up to ensure the continued education of your younger sisters and brothers in maroon. I may not be surprised by your selflessness, but I am deeply grateful, and once again filled with admiration for all that you do for the Fordham family.”

The University will present the Fordham Founder’s Award at the 2021 event to this year’s honorees: Emanuel (Manny) Chirico, GABELLI ’79, PAR, chairman and CEO of the global apparel company PVH Corp., and his wife, Joanne M. Chirico, PAR, as well as  Joseph H. (Joe) Moglia, FCRH ’71, chairman of TD Ameritrade, Fundamental Global Investors, and Capital Wealth Advisors and chair of athletics at Coastal Carolina University.

On Jan. 7, the University also bestowed the Founder’s Award upon Jean and Alex Trebek, PAR, in Los Angeles, who received a citation praising them as “ true partners in the mission of Fordham.” And on Dec. 16 of last year the late Jane M. Flaherty, PAR, was posthumously recognized at the Rose Hill campus for her support of the University and the cause of Catholic education.  Her husband James P. Flaherty, FCRH ’69, PAR—a 2011 honoree and their children received the award where she was hailed as “one of the angels of Fordham—a kind and selfless spirit who took joy in helping students realize their dreams through the scholarships she and her husband, Jim, established.” 

Founder’s Scholars: The True Stars

The annual Founder’s Dinner is by far Fordham University’s most elegant event. But for all the glamour, the evening’s true stars have always been the Founder’s Scholars, extraordinary students who have benefited from the millions of dollars the event has raised over the years.

Christopher Wilson, FCLC ’17, a former Founder’s Scholar and donor to this year’s dinner, said that while he’s disappointed to miss the evening, he views his ticket purchase as an “investment.”

“I think it shows that we believe in the future,” said Wilson.

A graduate of the Ailey/Fordham BFA in Dance program, Wilson only recently started buying tickets for the event. He said it was a wonderful, if disorienting transition, moving from scholar to donor.

“You kind of go in as a student and you’re sort of the center of attention for the evening and the transition was weird for me,” he said, remembering last year’s dinner. “There was no Ram Van to take me back to my dorm. I had to get home on my own. It was the little things like that kind of made me realize, ‘Okay, we’re not students anymore. We’re grown up. I’m a big boy now.’”

Today, Wilson is a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. When he goes to the Founder’s Dinner, he said, he enjoys running into old classmates and getting to know alumni from other schools. Though the event was canceled, he said he still felt like a participant.

“By still showing support for the scholars, it’s a way of us all coming together and uniting against this crazy monster that we’re dealing with right now,” he said. “And saying that we know that we’re going to come out of this.”

This year’s 48 Founder’s Scholars are not only the largest cohort ever, but also the most diverse group, comprising students with a wide variety of backgrounds and interests. From Astoria, New York, to Sandy Hook, Connecticut, to Montreal to Bloomfield Hills, Missouri, to Houston to Long Beach, California, the scholars represent nearly every region of the country—and beyond. Their passions are just as varied. Conner Chang studies business administration, Sarah Grandinetti majors in Russian, and Saeef Hossain focuses on psychology.

In an amusing speech prepared for the event, senior Devin D’Agostino, who majors in integrative neuroscience and philosophy, addressed how the University fosters diversity of thought. Though he didn’t get the chance to deliver it at the Hilton, he kindly recorded the speech on his phone from his home in Remsenburg, New York. In it, he described how a childhood interest in dinosaurs evolved from paleontology to biology to his current majors. He spoke of an initial conference with his adviser that began his evolution.

“For the first time in my life, I doubted dinosaurs,” he said. “Suddenly my image of the paleontologist became less of Dr. Grant from Jurassic Park … and more of Ross from Friends.”

Despite the seeming abandonment of his early interests, he said dinosaurs kept coming up his studies.

“I was suddenly encountering dinosaurs everywhere: in Ancient Literature …a picture of the Corinthian helmet clarified to me how the dome-headed Corthyosaurus got its name. In Philosophy of Human Nature … a reading on Plato’s concept of the forms provided to me a method of distinguishing between species in early Archosaurs. In Biopsychology … a lesson on localization in the brain revealed to me how scientists determine the sensory capacities of Tyrannosaurus rex,” he said.

He credited Fordham’s classic liberal arts education to opening his mind, allowing him to find dinosaurs in unexpected places.

“That is the magic of a Fordham education: With its multidisciplinary focus and emphasis on exploration, Fordham encourages us to find the unity in all things—a unity that comes from our pursuit of knowledge,” he said. “Whether it be finance, medieval literature, or dinosaurs, our passions create the unity.”

Looking to the Future in a Time of Crisis

Todd Cosenza, GABELLI ’95, LAW ’98, chair of the President’s Council and member of the Founder’s 2020 Dinner Committee, met Elizabeth Pinho-Cosenza, FCRH ’98, at Fordham College at Rose Hill. The couple eventually married at the University Church and continue to support Fordham through their work on the council and by giving to the Founder’s Scholarship Fund. Each year, they rally friends to come to the event. Cosenza, a partner at the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, LLP, said that while he most certainly understood that the event had to be canceled, he admitted that he was looking forward to seeing old college roommates and mentors as well as getting to meet the honorees.

“This year we have Joe Moglia who was being honored, and I was looking forward to meeting him,” said Cosenza.

Cosenza noted that an often-overlooked aspect of the event is that it showcases how far the University has come on the national stage.

“From the alumni perspective, given the prestige of the University, it really shows how our footprint has grown over the last 20 years, and how impressive our student body has become,” he said. “I think it’s just something that resonates with all the alums. It instills, even for the new scholars, the sense of community and the Fordham alumni network.”

Regardless, he stressed the main purpose of the event remains the Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.

“We need to make sure people don’t lose sight that the goal of the dinner is to help the scholarship fund, and ensure Fordham remains competitive with its peer universities,” he said. “So, we just go onward to 2021.”

Susan Conley Salice, FCRH ’82, concurred.

“The importance of the Founder’s Dinner is the impact it has on students,” said Conley Salice, a member of the Board of Trustees, a Founder’s 2020 co-chair, and co-chair of the Faith & Hope campaign. “So, we weren’t able to have an exciting and fun-filled dinner party, but the need for scholarship dollars still exists and actually is growing. Many parents, and students, will be unable to work and their savings will be impacted.”

Conley Salice said that leaving the funds in place for the scholarships was more than a kind gesture; it shows support for the future of the city and the world at large.

“Once the students are able to get back to academics, we’re going to need them to be men and women for others and find ways to help our society learn from the experience and work well together to serve our neighbors,” she said. “Scholarship dollars are a great example of an opportunity to support that.”

Amanda Jara, FCRH ’18, a former Founder’s scholar who had also bought a ticket to Founder’s 2020, said that she is currently being solicited for donations by a variety of institutions, but giving to education hits home.

“I know what it meant to have everyone donate, to be a recipient, and to be on the other side of the equation,” she said. “I understand why it’s really important for the students to see that these donors and their community still have faith in them. We still hope for the best for them, and I feel that if we can demonstrate that with leaving our donations in place, then the whole campaign of Faith and Hope is worth it. We still have faith and hope in our students.”

The iconic game-show host, who is living with stage four pancreatic cancer, arrived at the event straight from the studio still in makeup from recording five episodes of Jeopardy!. He told the crowd that he was there to provide comic relief from the formalities. Pointing to the statue, he noted that at 20 pounds it was the heaviest award he has ever received.

“That’s about a case of beer for those of you who keep track of statistics,” he mused.

On a more serious note, he acknowledged that his consistent appearance on the game show, despite his illness, has been an encouragement to others who are suffering.

“It’s humbling and it’s gratifying; because of the program that I have hosted for 36 years I have managed to touch the lives of so many people,” he said.

Fordham Trustee Fellow Armando Nuñez, GABELLI ’82, Trustee Brian MacLean, FCRH ’75, Alex Trebek and Jean Trebek, PAR, and Father McShane

He recalled a recent Lakers game that he attended where the sports announcer Mike Breen, FCRH ’83, leaned in to remind him that there were “a lot of people praying” for him.

“And if there’s one thing I have discovered in the past year it is that power of prayer; I learned it from the Jesuits when I was a kid, l learned it from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate when I was in boarding school,” he said with tears in his eyes.

The Trebeks would go on to send their two children to Jesuit schools. Their daughter, Emily, graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2015 and their son, Matthew, graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill with a degree in philosophy in 2013. Today Matthew is a restaurateur in Harlem, an area of the city that the couple has grown very fond of. They established the Alex Trebek Endowed Scholarship, making gifts of $2 million to aid Fordham students from North Harlem and East Harlem.

“You think Alex Trebek is a good man; you don’t know the half of it, he’s better than you think,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “He’s a brilliant man who is the nation’s school teacher, let’s admit that. As the host of Jeopardy!, he is our school teacher and we look forward to going to school every evening.”

Father McShane called Trebek a man of “quiet generosity” who, even in tough times, continues to teach.

“He teaches us about how to live each day with purpose, with focus, with determination, with love, and without being obsessed with oneself,” he said. “All that he does is outwardly directed. And he would freely say that the inspiration for all of this is his muse, Jean.”

In accepting the award, Jean Trebek drove home Fordham values that align with those of her and her husband.

“We understand how education, and probably more importantly, higher education, is one of the linchpins of society,” she said. “The many issues that we currently face are intertwined and affected by the leveling of educational availability.”

She said that she and her husband find the very idea of how a scholarship can change a life “awe-inspiring.”

“Once we are allowed to have the support that leads to an educated mind, that mind has the opportunity to be open and curious which allows for a fuller understanding and appreciation of our humanity both individually and collectively,” she said, noting that she has seen it occur in her own family.

“On a personal note, thank you, Father McShane and Fordham, for helping to develop our son Matthew’s personhood, both intellectually and emotionally, so that he can move through his life, which he does, with great confidence, responsibility, and creativity,” she said.

Her husband echoed her sentiments.

“If you have compassion in your heart, everything is possible, peace everywhere is possible,” he said. “If we are able to affect society in a positive way then our lives will not be for naught.”

Father McShane said he could not agree more with the couple, particularly as it related to the power of prayer. He then asked the crowd to join him to pray for Alex and “for his ministry.”

“That’s the one thing that has become clearer and clearer in the last few months, the school teacher has now become the minister,” said Father McShane, before reciting the Our Father and blessing Alex.

Earlier, eyeing the Archbishop Hughes statue during his acceptance speech, Trebek noted, “I have a thing about men with capes.

“People ask me at the studio quite often ‘If you weren’t hosting Jeopardy what would have you wanted to be in your life?’ And my response for years has been consistent, ‘Pope!’”

On leaving the stage, he assured the crowd that he had already tried to lift the 20-pound statue and that he didn’t want it sent back to his home. He was taking it home himself.

“I want it,” he said.

The event was hosted by Madeline McFadden-Nuñez and Fordham Trustee Fellow Armando Nuñez, GABELLI ’82, chairman of ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group and chief content licensing officer at ViacomCBS. In attendance were alumni, students, and newly-accepted Rams who will start at Fordham in the fall.

“Faith & Hope has created opportunities for students of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds to come to Fordham, earn a world-class education, and seek employment,” said Susan Conley Salice, FCRH ’82, one of three campaign co-chairs and a first-generation college graduate herself. “These scholarships open doors to students who may not otherwise be able to attend, and give them the opportunity to transform their lives.”

The campaign raised $175,311,288 from April 2014 to June 2019, surpassing its original goal of $175 million. Donations funded existing scholarship funds and 197 new scholarship funds for students—including Fulbright scholars, community leaders, and first-generation college students.

“Scholarships are at the heart of Fordham’s mission, and are central to the Jesuit notion of service to the human family,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Scholarships transform individual lives, of course, but in democratizing education and knowledge, they also help create a more just world and a more equitable society. I am deeply heartened that so many of our generous alumni and friends agree, and I am forever grateful for their openhearted and openhanded support.”

Breaking Records Across the University

The Faith & Hope campaign achieved historic results for Fordham. The 2017 fiscal year was the most successful single year of fundraising in the University’s history, at $75.8 million. This year, the University’s Development and University Relations (DAUR) division was recognized with a 2019 Educational Fundraising Award for sustained excellence in fundraising programs over the past three years, putting Fordham’s advancement effort among the top 90 colleges and universities in the nation.

At the 2019 Fordham Founder’s Dinner, nearly $2.6 million was raised for Faith & Hope—specifically the Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund. It was the second-highest amount in the event’s 18-year history, with 100% participation from the Board of Trustees and the President’s Council. During the years of the campaign, the annual event raised nearly $12 million to support Founder’s scholars.

Nearly a million dollars was raised on Fordham’s third annual Giving Day last March—the most successful Giving Day to date. More than 3,000 participants—alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends of Fordham—raised $933,689 in 1,841 minutes. Most of the donations, which ranged from $1 to $100,000, came from the U.S., but some came from as far as Australia and the Philippines.

One of the campaign’s biggest accomplishments was the creation of the Maurice and Carolyn Cunniffe Presidential Scholars Program—one of the most selective merit scholarships available to Fordham students. Three years ago, the scholarship program was established through a $20 million gift from Maurice J. (Mo) Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., UGE ’62, GSAS ’65, ’71. Over the next decade, it will fund a Fordham education—tuition, living expenses, internship, research, and study abroad opportunities—for dozens of talented students.

“Each year, Mo and I spend time with these students who are young stars with bright futures,” said Carolyn Cunniffe, a Faith & Hope co-chair. “We hope that they will contribute back to society far more than Mo and I can.”

Campaign co-chair Darlene Luccio Jordan, FCRH ’89, said Faith & Hope supported Fordham’s core values and identity.

“This campaign really went to the central mission of Fordham, which is our commitment to higher education and educating first-generation students, and keeping Fordham accessible, regardless of a student’s ability to pay,” she said.

Student Impact 

At the heart of the campaign were Fordham students and the donors who helped fuel their future.

In interviews and speeches spanning the past several years, students have described how a Fordham scholarship has changed their lives.

They talked about how a Fordham education helped shape their career paths. For some students, the University’s Jesuit values strengthened their Catholic faith, while others from different faiths said they felt welcome in the University community. Students also praised Fordham’s core curriculum, which encouraged them to connect with their neighbors in the Bronx. And they spoke about how Fordham helped them understand who they are and what legacy they want to leave behind.

Caroline Koenig, the daughter of seventh-generation French bakers, knew that attending Fordham would be a challenge. In high school, she experienced an injury that dashed her hopes of winning a college track scholarship. Fordham initially gave her a generous financial aid package, but it wasn’t enough. She was taking extra classes to graduate early and considering a commute from Connecticut to save money—that is, until she was awarded the Peter and Carol Howe Endowed Scholarship. It helped her land a summer internship at KPMG and identify her passion for forensic accounting.

“My parents taught me the value of hard work and holding onto your dreams. Because of them and because of Fordham, now I can follow my own,” Koenig said.

The campaign also made a college education possible for Fordham students who, in the face of overwhelming student debt, found it difficult to continue their education.

One of them is Muhammad El Shatanofy, the son of immigrant parents who dreamed of becoming a doctor. Throughout his time in Fordham’s neuroscience program, he wondered how he could pay for his undergraduate education without incurring debt. After all, he’d soon be paying for four years’ worth of medical school.

When he found out he was awarded the Founder’s Scholarship, which would pay for almost all his outstanding tuition costs, he was thrilled.

“It really has given me that extra motivation, so that now I just want to accomplish so much,” said El Shatanofy, who went on to mentor 12 high school students from disadvantaged high schools and volunteer at Mt. Sinai Hospital. “I have this drive to make other people happy that they invested in my education and my future.”

For many students, scholarships have left an emotional impact on their lives.

“There’s just no words I can give to express how thankful my family and I are. It takes a big load off our shoulders, and … I’m just so thankful because I wouldn’t be able to go to Fordham without you and apply to grad school,” Jeannie-Fay Veloso, GABELLI ’17, tells her scholarship donor, Robert D. Daleo, GABELLI ’72, in a campaign video. Seconds later, the two alumni embrace in tears.

What It Means to Give 

Faith & Hope’s scholarships were made possible through donations both big and small.

Among the campaign’s biggest donors, in addition to the co-chairs and their spouses, were Brian W. and Kathleen H. MacLean, both FCRH ’75; Susheel Kirpalani, LAW ’94; William J. Loschert, GABELLI ’61; Alice Lehman Murphy, the McKeon Family Foundation; Grace A. Dorney-Koppel, UGE ’60, and Ted Koppel; and Alex and Jean Trebek.

Many of them said they give back because they want to support the next generation of leaders and help families break out of the cycle of poverty through education. Some donors once stood in the same shoes as the students they now support.

“I came from a family where my father was a factory worker and my mother worked as a seamstress. I had two other brothers. So if I was going to do it, I was going to do it on my own—and my brother, too,” said Daleo, honorary campaign chair and chair of the Fordham Board of Trustees, who established a scholarship in his brother’s name. “We both went to Fordham. We both had scholarships, worked and paid our way. That scholarship helped me [and]  made the difference.”

Rosemary Santana Cooney, Ph.D., established a scholarship with her husband Patrick in recognition of her 42 years as a professor and associate dean at Fordham, her belief in generating a diverse student body, and her Puerto Rican heritage. Her scholarship will support minority students across Fordham.

“I was always aware that I was different—an outsider—because I tend to be dark, like my father. And I always worked extra hard because I figured as a woman and a minority, you had to work extra hard … I know, sympathetically, how hard these kids who try to make the transition are having to work. And I wanted to make sure that some of them were getting some help,” said Cooney.

For many donors, their Fordham experience gave them not only academic, social, and life skills—it showed them what they’re capable of.

“It’s taught me things about myself that I didn’t even know before,” said Sophie Scott, FCLC ’18, who studied journalism and now works as a production assistant at CNN. “Fordham literally showed me the world in a way I didn’t know possible, and a way I could fit into the world.”

Scott, echoing a sentiment shared by many donors, said she hopes to give that same experience to someone else.

“It literally brings me no greater joy than to think that someone else could be having that same experience—someone who, from a financial perspective, may not be able to,” said Scott, who serves as chair of the Young Alumni Philanthropy Committee at Fordham.

Faith & Hope marks the third of Fordham’s biggest campaigns since the early 1990s—a growing list of campaigns that are already transforming the world.

“It really is a win-win for both the donors and the students,” said Salice. “And ultimately, the world at large.”

Now that the University has successfully closed Faith & Hope, administrators and volunteers are planning for the launch of a new fundraising campaign that will be focused on enhancing the student experience and will include the construction of a new campus center at Rose Hill.

To read more success stories, visit the Faith & Hope campaign site.

“You go into grad school thinking you know everything,” said Condon, a former business intelligence manager who retired from Verizon in 2018. He soon realized he didn’t know it all, but he began to develop a nightly routine that ended up boosting both his spirits and his range of knowledge.

“I’d go home and flip on Jeopardy! and I would answer a bunch of questions and I would feel a little better about myself,” he said.

Condon said he even looked a bit like the quiz show’s host, Alex Trebek, in the mid-1980s, something that came in handy when Halloween rolled around. 

“Somebody was having a costume party, and I was either very smart or very lazy—and probably very poor too. I had a suit, had a mustache, had curly hair,” Condon said. “So I went as Alex Trebek.”

Last summer, more than 30 years later, Condon got a chance to meet Trebek in Los Angeles, when he was selected to compete on Jeopardy! He became a two-day champion, winning more than $70,000 on shows that aired from October 15 to 17.

“Alex Trebek is incredible because he’s doing all this stuff he doesn’t have to do,” Condon said, noting that Trebek, who has been undergoing treatments for pancreatic cancer, was very generous with his time, both with contestants and the studio audience, spending hours talking with people and answering their questions. 

Trebek and his wife, Jean, have also been very generous to the Fordham community. In 2015, two years after their son, Matthew, earned a philosophy degree at Fordham, the couple established the Alex Trebek Endowed Scholarship Fund with a $1 million gift to benefit undergraduate students from Harlem. They recently doubled the size of their gift, expanding the fund to include students from East Harlem. The Trebeks will be honored with the Fordham Founder’s Award in Los Angeles in January 2020. 

Condon’s own journey to Los Angeles started in April 2019, when he took the Jeopardy! online test for the second straight year in hopes of becoming a contestant. He got a call in May asking him to take a written test and audition for the show in June. 

“‘If you don’t hear from us, you can take the test in 2021,’” Condon said he was told by one of the show’s producers. “So, you know, you go back to your normal life.”

That normal life included cleaning the upstairs bathroom at his home in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, in mid-July when his phone rang. At first, he thought it might be another level of screening for the show. Then reality set in.

“This is it, this is the call,” recalled Condon, who taught history and economics at Cathedral Prep in Elmhurst, Queens, from 1987 to 1989.  

He and wife headed to Los Angeles in mid-August for the taping of what turned out to be Condon’s three appearances on the show. 

For Condon, the appearances flew by, as previous contestants had warned him. While playing, Condon said he was so focused on ringing in and the categories, he barely had time to pay attention to the other contestants.

“You pay some attention to other people’s scores, but it’s more when you get a ‘Daily Double’ and you have to do the arithmetic” to decide what to wager, he said. 

Condon joked that the reason he bet a round number—$20,000—during the second show’s Final Jeopardy round was because he “couldn’t do the arithmetic” quick enough to figure out exactly how much he needed wager to ensure that he would win.

The category was “World Leaders,” and luckily for him, he had the correct response. Trebek read the clue: “This man who ruled from 1949 to 1976 was sometimes called ‘The Red Sun.’” Condon wrote, “Who is Mao Zedong?” Before revealing Condon’s bet, Trebek said, “Did he wager big? I’ll say he did!”

“Made my wife really happy,” Condon said with a laugh.

Condon said his Fordham education helped him in a few spots during his run on the show. He credited a class called The Coming of the Civil War with helping him respond correctly to a Daily Double clue about which U.S. president preceded Martin Van Buren. (It was Andrew Jackson.)

Despite winning two straight games and earning praise from Trebek, Condon said “the absolute best part” of the experience was hearing his wife’s advice before the first taping.

“‘I don’t care if you win or you lose,’” she told him, “‘just have fun.’ And that absolutely meant the most to me,” he said. 

“It is hard to overstate the impact of Alex and Jean’s generosity,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Their gifts ensure a student body that is more diverse in every way, better prepared to excel as students at Fordham and as leaders upon their graduation. The University—and its students—owe a debt of gratitude to the Trebeks.”

Reached by phone at the couple’s home in Los Angeles, Jean Trebek said that there were several things that motivated the couple to continue supporting students from a neighborhood on the other side of the country, not least of which was the concept of paying it forward.

“If we can help them, they will help others, and there’s that beautiful rippling effect,” she said.

‘A Soft Spot for Harlem’ 

The Trebeks have two children: Emily, Loyola Marymount University Class of 2015, and Matthew, who graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill with a degree in philosophy in 2013.

When Alex first established the scholarship fund with Jean in 2015, he said the benefits of Matthew’s Fordham education were clear.

“My son’s career at the University not only sharpened his intellect but helped him develop as a leader and a well-rounded person,” said the Jeopardy! host. “My hope for this scholarship is that it helps many other deserving students have that same transformational experience.”

Thanks to their son, the Trebeks are no strangers to Harlem. Matthew has gone on to own two restaurants in the neighborhood: Oso, a Mexican restaurant at 140th and Amsterdam Avenue, and the soon-to-be-unveiled Lucille, named for his grandmother, at 152nd Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.

“We have a soft spot for Harlem,” said Jean.

Experiencing Different Cultures

Fordham’s first Trebek scholar, Estefania Cruz, commuted to campus from her home in Harlem. She graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 2017 with plans for a career in social work. The current scholar, Joel Gomez, is on track to graduate from Fordham College at Rose Hill next year with a degree in international political economy. Gomez said he first received the scholarship in his junior year, which helped him clear that year’s loans. He has received the funds again for this year.

When he first came to Fordham, Gomez said he wasn’t entirely aware that the campus would be so different from All Hallows High School, his alma mater in the South Bronx, where the student body was “about 98 percent men of color.”

“It’s important to see that the University caters to different students,” he said. “Giving help to students like me lets me absorb different cultures and that experience is really important.”

He said at first, he was a little stunned that the scholarship came from the famous game show host. He later took note of Trebek’s Canadian background and appreciated how the gift crossed boundaries and cultures.

“I think it’s exciting, he grew up in a completely different culture and to give back later to a whole different community—it’s pretty dope,” he said.

Jean said that after meeting one scholarship recipient’s parents, she felt a maternal kinship.

“I think anytime we help our children, you don’t feel alone, you feel a sense of oneness, a sense of engagement, and a connectedness,” she said.

Meeting a Need

Just as Harlem is often called the cultural capital of black America, home to the Apollo Theater and Schomberg Center, East Harlem is often referred to as El Barrio and is a cultural hub of Latino New York, home to Museo del Barrio and several other Latino cultural institutions and nonprofits. It is also home to a significant population of students in need of scholarships.

With this expansion, the number of prospective applicants for consideration for the Trebek Scholarship will nearly double, thereby increasing the likelihood that more students from Harlem and East Harlem will ultimately enroll at the University. Last fall, there were 116 applicants from Harlem, with 252 from both Harlem and East Harlem.

Jean said that the couple decided to expand the scholarship’s neighborhood parameters after conversations with Father McShane.

“Once it was proposed, we had no reason not to expand, because [Fordham’s] philosophy is that education is at the root of living a life of compassion,” she said. “You need the mind and the heart and that’s a beautiful thing that Fordham does.”

Working backward from No. 10, are our most popular posts of the year.

10. Actor Robert De Niro Tells IDHA Graduates: You Are My Heroes
(June 30) The Hollywood legend offered the commencement address to the 50th graduating class of Fordham’s International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance (IDHA).

9. Fordham Designated National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education
(April 3) The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have designated Fordham as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE).

8. Oscar-Nominated Moonlight Illuminates Miami Film’s Co-Producer
(February 24) Alumnus Andrew Hevia co-produced the film which took home Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

7. Rainbow Rams Represent Fordham in NYC’s Gay Pride March
(June 26) The university was represented for the first time in the annual Pride Parade by the Fordham University Alumni chapter of the Rainbow Rams.

6. Fordham Signs Pledge to Support Paris Climate Change Goals
(June 6) Fordham has joined 180 colleges and universities in signing a pledge, “We Are Still In,” to support the goals laid out by the Paris Climate Agreement.

Class of 2017 Urged to Face Unsettling Times With a Merciful Heart

5. Class of 2017: Face Unsettling Times with a Merciful Heart
(May 20) As thousands on Edwards Parade listened to commencement speaker Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, our news team posted videos of both before and after the ceremony.

4. Haunted Fordham Video
(October 30) Fordham’s Rose Hill campus is widely considered to be one of the most haunted campuses in the Northeast, if not the entire U.S. And we had the spooky stories to prove it.

3. Father McShane Announces University Support for Immigrants and Refugees
(January 29) Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, issued the following statement with regard to President Trump’s executive order on refugees and immigration.

2. Fordham featured prominently on the New York City skyline last night.
(March 28) The Empire State Building was lit in maroon to commemorate Fordham’s 175th anniversary, and the dramatic photo helped boost our 175 Things to Know About Fordham series.

1. Jeopardy! 175th Anniversary Greeting for Fordham
(January 2017) Alex Trebek asking a Final Jeopardy! question on 19-letter words, a shout-out to Fordham’s (What is a) Dodransbicentennial. The post was seen by more than 108,000 viewers.

Indeed, for Trebek, owning a restaurant is about much more than food.

“There was just something about the hospitality industry that I fell in love with,” he says. “It’s great because it’s very free form in that it allows you to venture out into so many different fields: design, food, drinks, music, graphic design, and even just talking to people.”

Trebek had bartended at various Manhattan spots before graduating from Fordham in 2013, but it was a stint serving drinks at the since-shuttered restaurant Willow Road in Chelsea that set into motion his career as a restaurateur. While there, Trebek became enamored not just with mixology but with the architectural design of restaurants. He connected with the designer who had worked on Willow Road’s interior, and began working as a carpenter for his company. Eventually, Trebek and his business partner—the guy who’d shown him the ropes at the first of his bartending gigs in the city—had an idea for a restaurant of their own. And this past May, after three years of planning, the pair opened Oso, a 44-seat restaurant specializing in Mexican street food and craft cocktails.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Trebek—the son of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek—would go to the local farmer’s market every Sunday to get carne asada tacos and quesadillas. He developed a love for the cuisine, and in talking with the vendors, learned about their recipes and style of cooking. But after moving to New York, he found the options for Mexican food lacking. “You’ll have a chef who will put his own spin on it, which is great, but it kind of loses its authenticity of being Mexican street food,” he says of the cuisine characterized by dishes that are quick to make and eat, and relatively inexpensive.

Trebek made two scouting trips to Mexico City, and Oso’s menu is inspired by the food he encountered. “The idea behind Oso was to take the street fare we loved [in Mexico City] and turn the dining experience into something communal rather than personalized,” he says. Everything in the restaurant is made from scratch, and he says the restaurant works with a family from Puebla to make sure things remain as authentic as possible. (The restaurant even makes two types of mole using recipes handed down by that family.)

Trebek says he doesn’t get his palette from his famous dad. “He would be fine eating chicken, white rice, and broccoli for the rest of his life,” he says. But his father—“a handyman at heart,” according to Matt—helped out in other ways, like following the construction progress and inspecting the space when visiting New York.

The opportunity to open a restaurant in Harlem that could become part of the fabric of the community was a big draw for Trebek. “Early on when we were scoping out spaces, we heard of a bar called Harlem Public,” he says. “We went there and saw such a strong community behind this place. It was seeing that type of vibe and support that really drew us to opening in Hamilton Heights.” There’s a strong sense of community within Oso’s leadership group, as well—both the restaurant’s chef and the project manager who oversaw the build-out live in the Harlem apartment building that Trebek owns and also lives in.

Because Trebek hired the same designer who’d worked on Willow Road, Oso includes some of Trebek’s favorite features from that space, from the open kitchen to the raw aesthetic that here takes the form of unfinished floors, faux-concrete walls, and reclaimed wood. And Trebek’s Mexico City visits helped inform the décor, too, from the graffiti mural to the the faux cow skull hanging opposite the bar to the greenery that helps hide some of the air conditioning ducts.

Trebek says he’d love to open another restaurant someday, and has even thought about what such a place might look like (more of an emphasis on the bar, he says). But for the moment, he’s focused on Oso. “Right now it’s kind of all hands on deck here, just trying to make this as perfect as it can be,” he says.

—Joe DeLessio, FCLC ’06, is an associate editor at New York magazine’s website and a frequent contributor this magazine.

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Each year Fordham faculty, students, alumni, and friends make significant achievements that bring attention to the University and its mission of educating men and women for others. The Fordham stories that were viewed most often this year were no exception. Whether the subject was a Hollywood movie of espionage and intrigue, a Jesuit dedicated to bringing laughs to his students, or an alumnus inventing his life’s gift to humanity, the stories below touched our readers’ hearts and minds, inspiring “shares” and “likes” far beyond the University community. Thanks to all who visited Fordham News this year.

Starting with No. 10, here are the most viewed stories of 2015.

10. Pope Francis: Video Messages from the Fordham Community (By News and Marketing Staff)

In recognition of Pope Francis’ historic visit to New York City, Fordham created videos of welcome, and members of its faculty and Jesuit community offered extensive commentary in the media about the visit. Pope Francis’ addresses to the U.S. Congress and to the United Nations were streamed live on campus, Fordham staff covered his public events, and students offered their questions for the pope via Fordham Instagrams.

9 . University President Joseph M. McShane, SJ, on University Culture and Bias Incidents (By Joseph M. McShane, SJ)

In a strongly worded statement, Father McShane made clear that those in the University community who commit acts of racism, sexism, homophobia, or bigotry “will face the appropriate disciplinary proceedings, in addition to whatever criminal charges are brought, when appropriate.” Father McShane’s comments were in response to two incidents in which students reported being subjected to mistreatment or the use of racist language.

8. Law Alumna Gives Backstage Scoop on Hamilton (By Tom Stoelker)

Vanessa Nadal, LAW ’10, the wife of Hamilton playwright and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, gave a group of lucky theatergoers an insider’s view of the Broadway hit show, as part of the Fordham Alumni Culture and Entertainment (FACE) series. Nadal said she encouraged her husband to make sure that a female lead character got a rap of her own in the smash hip-hop musical. “Lin is attuned to the female roles, but I did push him a little bit,” she said.

7. Truth about Mary Magdalene Could Open Doors to Women in Church (By Joanna Mercuri)

In a lecture, Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, Distinguished Professor of Theology, said that Mary Magdalene’s important apostolic acts have been overshadowed by Pope Gregory’s mistaken characterization of her, in 591 a.d., as a repentant prostitute. Mary of Magdala, likely a well-off independent woman, was one of Jesus’ most influential apostles, whose true story can reclaim the role of women in the church, said Sister Johnson. Today, theologians are returning to scripture to uncover more evidence of women’s contributions to Christianity.

6. Apparel Designed by Gabelli Student Makes Life Easier for Diabetics (By Joanna Mercuri)

Lacrosse player Corinne Logan, a junior in the Gabelli School of Business, found that using an insulin pump to manage her Type 1 diabetes offered her lots of freedom to move, but that it was bulky. The athlete-entrepreneur founded Pumpstash, LLC, a company which creates spandex shorts for active diabetics who use an insulin pump and a glucose monitor. Ten percent of the profits from the sale of of each pair go to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

5. This Tremendously Popular Quiz Show Host has Endowed a Million-Dollar Scholarship (By Bob Howe)

Alex Trebek, host of Jeopardy!, said that attending Fordham proved to be a transformative experience for his son Matthew, FCRH ’13. To make a Fordham education possible for others, especially students from underrepresented populations, Trebek created a $1 million scholarship for students from Harlem. The first Trebek Scholar, Estefania Cruz, is a history major who plans to become a social worker.

4. Fordham’s Funniest Jesuit Bids Adieu (By Patrick Verel)

Longtime communications professor Michael V. Tueth, SJ, retired from Fordham this year, but not without having earned a reputation as “master of mirth and the sultan of sass” among students he taught over the course of two decades. His firm belief that religion makes things funnier, coupled with his own brand of humor, led one well-known Jesuit, James Martin, SJ, to describe him as “one of the funniest people I know.”

3. Cancer Survivor Invents T-Shirts With a Purpose (By Nicole LaRosa)

In the final year of his life, entrepreneur Alex Niles, GABELLI ’11, (1983-2015), devoted his energies to founding CureWear, an apparel brand for cancer patients and their families, featuring a signature T-shirt that patients can wear during chemotherapy treatments. Although Niles succumbed to cancer in April, his spirit lives on in his family, friends, and in CureWear, which is still going strong and has given back a portion of its profits to cancer patients.

2.  2015 Commencement (By Fordham News Staff)

For the first time, Fordham created a dedicated web page for this year’s graduation and highlighted a drone video of the May 16 ceremony, Commencement 2015 From Above. Also featured on the page was coverage of the commencement speech, delivered this year by Nana Lordina Dramani Mahama, First Lady of the Republic of Ghana.

1. Metadiplomat: The Real Life Story of Bridge of Spies Hero James B. Donovan (By Ryan Stellabotte)

A FORDHAM Magazine cover story on alumnus and Cold-War-era lawyer James B. Donovan, FCRH ’37, was published on the same day that a Steven Spielberg movie about Donovan (who is portrayed by Tom Hanks) was released in theaters. The espionage thriller, in which Donovan is asked to defend a Russian agent in court and undertake a risky “spy swap,” is still playing on the big screen and looks likely to be among the Oscar-nominated films of 2015.