The annual Fordham Founder’s Dinner, held at the Glasshouse, raised $2.5 million for the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund, which supports scholarships for 48 Fordham Founder’s Scholars.

The University also paid tribute to this year’s Fordham Founder’s Award recipients: John L. Lumelleau, FCRH ’74, and Loretta Franklin Lumelleau, and Robert “Bob” J. O’Shea, GABELLI ’87, PAR, and Michele K. O’Shea, FCRH ’88, PAR.

With a theme of “Transforming Our World,” the dinner was a cause for multiple celebrations, said Fordham President Tania Tetlow.

“We celebrate the gift of Fordham and all that she has meant to us. We celebrate our beloved community, friendships new and old, the family we have chosen and built together,” she said to the event’s 900 guests.

“And we celebrate the deep joy of giving back. We look at the shining faces of the student scholars here tonight, all dressed up in their finest, full of talent and possibility, full of hope. We celebrate the enormous pleasure we receive from helping them.”

(Watch Tetlow’s speech here.)

A Life Transformed by Generosity

Benjamin Coco, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior majoring in English and physics, spoke on behalf of all the Founder’s Scholars. He told attendees that their support had allowed him to pursue his love for both the sciences and creative writing. That includes writing his debut novel, Johnny Outlaw: The Man With No Past.

“I’m searching for an agent to be published—in case there are any in the audience,” he said to laughs.

Coco said his Founder’s scholarship enabled him to conduct summer research at Notre Dame University. This May, he’ll finish a senior thesis, “Emission Spectroscopy of Red Giant Stars.”

“My mom moved to the U.S. from Grenada when she was 15 and has worked hard ever since, always emphasizing the importance of education,” he said, noting that Fordham’s Jesuit ideals called to him.

“All Founder’s Scholars have had our lives changed by your generosity and have been given the opportunity to thrive to the best of our abilities. From the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of this year’s Founder’s Scholars, thank you!”

(Watch Coco’s speech here.)

Lessons from a Daily Commute

The evening also featured a new emcee: Lauren Scala, FCRH ’04.

A four-time Emmy Award-winning television host, reporter, and producer at NBC 4 in New York, Scala joked that her time riding the Ram Van actually helped her career as a traffic anchor for 10 years.

“So whoever saw me in the morning, it was Fordham I have to thank for being able to authentically report on the Cross Bronx Expressway,” she said. “And I still smile when I see a Ram Van in the wild.”

Always Making a Difference

Fordham also changed the life of Founder’s honoree John Lumelleau, a retired president and CEO of the insurance brokerage Lockton Companies who has served on the University’s Board of Trustees since 2018. His wife, Loretta Lumelleau, a graduate of Lehman College, worked in publishing and taught in New York City schools before retiring to raise the couple’s three children.

Over the past decades, they have contributed generously to Fordham as well as a range of other causes that help young people thrive. Their giving has benefited Fordham’s football program and other athletics programs, as well as the Student Emergency Fund.

Lumelleau noted that the family’s ties to Fordham run deep, as his brother Richard, FCRH ’64, sisters Cathleen Marasco, FCRH ’82, and Jeanette Kavanagh, FCRH ’79, and his niece, Elizabeth Casey, FCRH ’98, GSE ’05, attended Fordham.

The excellence and tradition that are the “essence” of Fordham have, in fact, lived in his mind since childhood. His earliest memories of music, he said, were the “The Star Spangled Banner,” “God Bless America,” and Fordham’s fight song “The Ram,” which Richard would lead while his uncle “banged it out on the piano.”

“It feels as if Fordham has always been present, always been making a difference. This evening is a critical part of making sure that it is.”

(Watch Lumelleau’s speech here.)

In a video that was shown during the dinner, Founder’s Scholars shared what scholarships meant to them.

The Value of Giving Back

Bob and Michele O’Shea are co-founding benefactors of the O’Shea Center for Credit Analysis and Investment, which launched at the Gabelli School of Business in 2022.

Bob, who was a member of Fordham’s Board of Trustees from 2006 to 2012, is a former partner at Goldman Sachs and the current chairman of the global investment firm Silver Point Capital. Michele is the founder of O’Shea Yoga, as well as a professional life coach who leads workshops on personal empowerment for women. Three of the couple’s four children have graduated from Fordham.

The O’Sheas have given to philanthropic organizations in the U.S. and abroad that support education, health, veterans, public safety, and the alleviation of poverty. At Fordham, they have contributed to scholarships, career services, track and field, and other athletics programs.

Bob tied the importance of giving back to his own Fordham story. He attended thanks to a scholarship offered to him by former track and field coach Tom Dewey, who was in attendance, and four seniors on the team made room for “a twerpy freshman” to move onto campus with them.

“Almost all seniors would never even entertain the idea of accepting an incoming freshman as their roommate—talk about being ‘men in the service of these others,’” he said.

“Michele and I have had a blessed life, and to be standing in front of all of you—we are filled with gratitude and love.”

(Watch O’Shea’s speech here.)

Learn more about the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.

Guests were treated to a performance by the Fordham University Choir.

The University has raised $75.9 million in funds—7 percent more than the previous record set eight years ago, and $30 million more than the amount raised in 2016.

“We are deeply grateful to the members of the Fordham family who have given, and given so generously,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Their support—financial and otherwise—speaks to the importance of Fordham’s sacred mission, and to the enduring value of a Fordham education. Though we can number the gifts, their impact on a new generation of Fordham students is beyond price.”

Making a Fordham Education Accessible

Among the major gifts that helped to drive the University fundraising achievement was a $10.5 million gift to support science education from the estate of the late Stephen (Steve) Bepler, FCRH ’64, and a $20 million gift to the University from Maurice J. (Mo) Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., GSAS ’71. The Cunniffes made the second-largest gift in Fordham’s history when they established the Maurice and Carolyn Cunniffe Presidential Scholars Program to support the studies of high-performing students.

“Our generous donors are people who are passionate about Fordham and are motivated to invest in our mission,” said Roger A. Milici Jr., vice president of development and university relations. “These gifts are meant to ensure that a Fordham education is within reach for first generation students and students of all economic backgrounds.”

As the University has prioritized making a Fordham education accessible for students of every class, race, and faith, it is grateful that $48 million of the $75.9 million raised in FY 2017 was allocated by donors to support financial aid. This brings the Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid, which was announced during Fordham’s 175th anniversary, to $107 million.

Milici said the University has made fundraising strides across the board that have contributed to its unprecedented fundraising year.

“We have an increasingly talented and driven advancement team—staff and volunteers—working together to create these types of successes,” he said.

Law and Cybersecurity

Among the University wide successes was the Fordham Law School’s fundraising, which topped its FY 2017 goal of $12.5 million, driving its Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid total to $21.4 million. Fordham’s Center on National Security also received a $1.7 million gift from Trustee Fellow Vincent J. Viola and the Viola Family Foundation. That gift will support the work of the center’s director, Karen J. Greenberg, Ph.D., and other research staff, as well as the Terrorism Trials Database, a data and analysis project focused on terrorism prosecutions.

This important gift comes as Fordham was recently designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE) by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.

Another fundraising advance included the Fordham Fund, which raised $5.1 million and set a new record for unrestricted and school annual funds. What’s more, the 16th Annual Fordham Founder’s Award Dinner, raised $2.4 million—the second largest amount in the dinner’s history.

Support for Capital Projects

With the added emphasis of raising funds to support two important capital projects that will give the University a competitive edge in student-athlete recruitment and improve the Rose Hill Gym fan experience—namely the McLaughlin Family Basketball Court at the Rose Hill campus, and the new football office projects—athletic fundraising had a 42 percent increase from FY 2016.

Fordham parents also played an integral part in helping the University reach its fundraising goals. Parent giving more than doubled, going from $1 million from 2,348 parents the last fiscal year to $2.7 million from 2,699 parents this year.

The spirit of giving was further exemplified in Fordham’s inaugural Giving Day, where the University exceeded its goal of 1,750 donors in 24 hours with gifts from 2,101 donors from across the United States and around the world.

“Fundamentally, Fordham alumni appreciate the rigorous Jesuit education and overall experience they had on campus, and if given the opportunity (and we do a good job of earning their trust), I believe alumni will invest in that promise so that others can have similar experiences and follow in that long maroon line,” said Milici.

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Dr. Skorton will be awarded an honorary doctorate during the commencement ceremonies, as will eight other people who have distinguished themselves in business, law, the arts, or public service. See here for full details on Fordham’s commencement ceremonies.

Honorary doctorates of humane letters will be awarded to Dr. Skorton and to Judith Altmann, vice president of the Holocaust Child Survivors of Connecticut; Gregory Boyle, SJ, head of the gang-intervention group Homeboy Industries; Maurice “Mo” Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, a successful businessman and key supporter of Fordham; Patricia David, GABELLI ’81, global head of diversity for JPMorgan Chase; and Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States.

An honorary doctorate of laws will be awarded to Loretta A. Preska, LAW ’73, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Honorary doctorates of fine arts will be awarded to Robert Battle, artistic director for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and to Henry Cobb, founding partner at the architecture firm Pei, Cobb, Freed & Partners and co-designer of Fordham Law School’s new building.

Cobb and Preska will receive their honorary doctorates at the law school’s diploma ceremony, to be held Monday, May 23, at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan. All other honorary doctorates will be awarded at the main University commencement on May 21.

Preska will speak at Fordham Law School’s diploma ceremony. David will speak at the Gabelli School of Business’ diploma ceremony for master’s degree candidates, to be held May 23 at the Beacon Theatre. Father Boyle will speak at the diploma ceremony for the Graduate School of Social Service, to be held May 23 at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall.

David Skorton became the first physician to lead the Smithsonian Institution when he began his tenure in July 2015. He oversees 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoo, and various research centers devoted to astrophysics, tropical research, the natural environment, and other areas.

During his tenure, Dr. Skorton has made arts programming a priority at the Smithsonian, and he continues to advocate for a greater national commitment to arts and humanities education. In an address at the National Press Club in December, he called for reversing what he called our nation’s “disinterest and disinvestment in the arts and humanities” while also preserving the nation’s commitment to science.

As he put it, “This commitment must be based on an understanding that the arts and humanities complement science and that together they us make better thinkers, better decision makers, and better citizens.”

Dr. Skorton earned both his bachelor’s degree in psychology and his medical degree from Northwestern University before completing his residency and fellowship in cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1979. He then joined the faculty of the University of Iowa, where he held professorships in internal medicine, biomedical engineering, and other fields before serving as the university’s president from 2003 to 2006.

In 2006 he was named president of Cornell University, where under his leadership the university joined with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to win a competition to develop a new campus, Cornell Tech, on New York City’s Roosevelt Island. He also won praise as a highly effective fundraising at both Cornell and the University of Iowa.

Dr. Skorton has also served as a professor in Cornell’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and in the departments of medicine and pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is a pioneer in applying computer analysis and processing to improve cardiac imaging, and has published two major texts and numerous other writings on cardiac imaging and image processing.

He is also an amateur flute and saxophone player who once co-hosted a weekly Latin jazz program on the University of Iowa’s public radio station.

Other Honorary Degree Recipients:

Judith Altmann is a Holocaust survivor who shares her story widely in Connecticut and Westchester County schools as a way of encouraging young people to make a better world. Born in 1924 in Jasina, Czechoslovakia, she was confined in Nazi camps at Auschwitz, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, and Bergen Belsen in 1944 and 1945. She is a vice president of the Holocaust Child Survivors of Connecticut and recipient of the Anti-Defamation League’s Daniel R. Ginsberg Humanitarian Award for 2013.

Robert Battle is artistic director for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which offers a BFA in dance in conjunction with Fordham. Renowned for his challenging, athletic, and lyrical choreography, Battle was named one of the Masters of African American Choreography by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2005, among his other honors. He established the Ailey company’s New Directions Choreography Lab to nurture emerging talents, and continues to expand the company’s community outreach and education programs.

Gregory Boyle, SJ, is executive director of Homeboy Industries, one of the nation’s largest gang-intervention organizations. Hundreds of former gang members have changed their lives by taking advantage of the organization’s work program and its services including education, legal help, and substance abuse counseling. Father Boyle is an internationally recognized expert on gang intervention approaches and author of The New York Times bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion (Free Press, 2011).

Henry N. Cobb is a founding partner at the award-winning architecture firm Pei, Cobb, Freed & Partners. Along with his colleague Yvonne Szeto, he designed the new 22-story Fordham Law School and McKeon Residence Hall building at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. His many other distinctive projects include the iconic John Hancock Tower over Boston’s historic Copley Square, which earned the prestigious Twenty-Five-Year Award from the American Institute of Architects.

Maurice “Mo” Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, chairman and CEO of Vista Capital, is a successful engineer, businessman, entrepreneur, and Fordham trustee emeritus who is one of the University community’s most vital and longstanding supporters. He played a pivotal role in the expansion of Fordham Prep as one of its trustees from 1983 to 1995, and his extraordinary financial support for Fordham was recognized in 2013 with the renaming of the Administration Building at the Rose Hill campus in his honor. He served on the Fordham University Board of Trustees from 1995 to 2003.

Patricia David, GABELLI ’81, managing director and global head of diversity for JP Morgan Chase, has been widely recognized for integrating diversity efforts throughout the company over the past 15 years. With her help, the company was named to Black Enterprise’s 2015 list of the most diverse companies, and she herself has received honors including the YMCA’s Black Achievers in Industry award. She serves on the advisory board for the Gabelli School of Business and was named the school’s Alumna of the Year for 2015.

Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, is a passionate advocate for expanding health care access. Sister Carol was recognized by President Obama for helping to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, and Pope Benedict XVI bestowed on her the Cross for the Church and Pontiff to honor her humanitarian efforts. Since 2005 she has been president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, a membership organization comprising more than 600 Catholic hospitals and 1,400 other health ministries.

Loretta A. Preska, LAW ’73, is chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In more than two decades as a judge she has ruled on many high-profile cases, such as those involving computer hacking, sentencing of a Somali pirate involved in hijacking a U.S.-flagged cargo ship, and the parody of an Annie Leibovitz photograph. She is a steadfast and generous supporter of Fordham who received Fordham Law School’s Louis J. Lefkowitz Public Service Award and the Fordham Law Alumni Association’s Medal of Achievement. A member of the Fordham University Board of Trustees from 2007 to 2013, she is now a trustee fellow.

Among the Fifteenth Annual Fordham Founder’s Award Dinner’s celebrated firsts were:

– $2.6 million raised for the Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund, the most ever.
– 22 Founders Scholars, eight more than the previous year.
– a record-breaking 1,100 attendees at the dinner.

Speaking for her fellow scholars, Robyn Ayers, a Fordham College at Lincoln Center senior majoring in dance and philosophy, thanked attendees for making it possible for the scholars to get a Fordham education. She said that on the day she got the call informing her she would receive the scholarship she was shopping for a headset so she could Skype with her family in Kansas.

“I’m not one for public spectacles, but I don’t mind telling you that I sat down in the middle of Best Buy and started crying,” she said. “That phone call changed my life. Instead of having to drop out or sacrifice academic commitment for [working] multiple jobs, I was able to focus on becoming the most authentic version of myself.”

The University presented three families with Founder’s Awards: John and Emalie Feerick, Brian and Kathleen MacLean, and George and Marie Doty, the latter of whom were honored posthumously.

John Feerick, FCRH ’58, LAW, 61, former trustee and former dean of Fordham Law School, is the Sidney C. Norris Professor in Public Service and founder of the school’s Feerick Center for Social Justice.

John said he and Emalie were accepting the award on behalf of their parents: his hailed from County Cork, Ireland, and instilled in their children the importance of education even though they did not have one; hers encouraged them to serve others.

John also thanked Emalie onstage, saying her “suggestions, ideas, and encouragement have been reflected in all of my writings, tributes, and speeches, and all my life’s work.” Emalie helped him write From Failing Hands: The Story of Presidential Succession (Fordham University Press, 1965). The book details his involvement in crafting the 25^th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Founder’s Award recipients Brian and Kathleen MacLean met their freshman year at Fordham and graduated together from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 1975. Brian is a member of Fordham’s Board of Trustees and a former chair of the University’s President’s Council. Their son, Thomas, attended the Gabelli School.

The couple has supported Fordham through scholarship funds and through the Fordham Housing Fund, which provides assistance to commuter students so they can live on campus. Kathleen said the couple’s interest in programs like these stem from recognition of how fortunate they are both to have found each other and to be able to contribute philanthropically.

“Talking to these [housing fund] recipients and seeing the impact of how such a seemingly simple thing as living on campus was expanding their idea of what was possible for themselves was empowering to me, energizing, a glimpse into someone else’s future,” she said.

“My life has not been exceptional. It has been busy with family and community. I am not sure I will ever think of myself as a Fordham Founder. I will think of myself as a fortunate person.”

Brian thanked his co-workers at Travelers Insurance who were in attendance. He also gave a shout-out to the Fordham alumni whose 1969 performance on national television’s GE College Bowl convinced Kathleen to attend Fordham in the first place. “Without you, Kathy may have never made her way to the Bronx, and I may have missed out on the single most valuable thing I took away from Fordham,” he said.

The late George Doty, FCRH ’38, and his wife Marie, were hailed as stalwarts of the University through the years.

George, a managing partner at Goldman Sachs, was a Fordham Trustee Emeritus and was one of the University’s most consistent donors, prompting the University to name its donor loyalty society after him. Among the couple’s major gifts to Fordham were a generous donation to renovate the University Church, the establishment of the Marie Ward Doty University Chair in Psychology, and the creation of the Dr. M. J. Werthman Memorial Endowed Scholarship.

Their son Bill Doty said that his father, who died in 2012, was the kind of man who was so devoted to Fordham he would have thanked everyone in attendance in person.

He also noted that his mother Marie, who was married to George for 63 years, had a huge impact on their focus on religious causes.

“It was mom’s devotion to God and the church and her belief that faith plays a big role in one’s life that provided the support for renovations of places of worship, including the amazing Fordham chapel,” he said.

Even though Joseph M. McShane, SJ, president of Fordham, never attended the University, he said he felt as if he had gotten a full scholarship here. He said he absorbed the values of Fordham as a young boy from his father, who was a member of the Class of 1932.

“I challenge each of you to give a full scholarship to all whom you meet, the same way my father gave a full scholarship to all his sons. Explore. Discover. Take delight in God’s word. Transform the world with your goodness, and redeem it with your love. If you do that, you will indeed give all who you meet a full scholarship to Fordham.”

Watch Robin Ayers’ thank you speech.

In the months preceding Fordham Founder’s Dinner, the March 14  black-tie event at New York’s Waldorf Astoria, the University’s Founder’s Scholars witnessed a flurry of activity.

Amidst the buying of gowns and the renting of tuxes, a few scholars were chosen to participate in the making of a video shown the night of the event.

This year’s video matched five current Founder’s Scholars with five former Founder’s Scholar alumni. The filming took place downtown in a Chelsea studio in late January.

Some of the matches were intentionally parallel, like Ailey-Fordham dancer Alexandria Johnson, FCLC ’14, and Ailey-Fordham sophomore Henry McCall.

Other matches were not planned, like Mary Alcaro, FCRH ’12, and Fordham College at Rose Hill senior Kristen Guzman, both of whom discovered just before the video shoot that they attended the same grade school, Immaculate Heart Academy in Washington Township, New Jersey.

One thing that all of this year’s scholars said they had in common was the shock upon finding out they’d been selected to be a Founder’s Scholar, an award reserved for undergraduate men and women who have gone beyond the boundaries of expectation in their coursework, extracurricular activities, and personal experiences..

“I got the email and forwarded it to my mom and she was like, ‘Is this a scam?’” said McCall, who hails from St. Louis, Missouri.

Guzman said she was alone in her apartment when she got the email. She called her parents, both of whom had a similar reaction to McCall’s mother—disbelief.

Guzman said she even called the financial aid department and asked, ‘Is there more than one Kristen Guzman at this school?’

“First, I wanted to make sure they emailed the right person and I was reading this right,’” she said.

Johnson recalled when she received notice a few years ago. She said she Googled “Founder’s Award.” “I saw all this coverage about the gala and I was like ‘Am I going to go to this?’” said Johnson.

But while all were thrilled with the excitement of being able to attend the Founder’s Dinner, they were most appreciative of having the opportunity to attend Fordham. Every scholar said they would not have been able to do it without the scholarship help.

“It was a rush to get through the application process, but after I was accepted it became very real, and [my family]had to ask ‘How are we going to pay for it?’” recalled Alcaro. “When the Founder’s Scholarship came, it changed everything.”

“The scholarship allowed me to stay here and focus on myself instead of scrambling for a job and constantly feeling guilty that my parents couldn’t save for retirement,” said McCall.

Johnson said without the scholarship she would’ve never become the performer she is today. In the Ailey-Fordham program, she merged philosophy with dance.

“I was able to weave together all these ideas, so you read about Plato and think, ‘That makes sense with what my teacher was trying to say about my arabesque in ballet class today,’” she said. “If you don’t pursue that way of thinking in school you won’t have as many resources to tie back to your passion in life.”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, has announced the completion of a historic capital campaign that raised $540 million for the University.

At the annual Founder’s Award dinner, held in the Waldorf Astoria Grand Ballroom on March 31, Father McShane said that Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign For Fordham was the most successful fundraising effort in University history.

“If you wonder who is responsible for the achievement that we celebrate this night, look around you. [It’s] you,” Father McShane said, delivering a heartfelt message that

resonated well beyond the ballroom. “Each of you and all of you and 60,000 others, all of you have propelled us across the line. And you have given it from the heart. You have all raised the Old Maroon on high, for the greater glory of God.”

Launched publicly in 2009, in the midst of an economic downturn, the campaign nevertheless closed well ahead of its half-billion-dollar goal. The funds will support scholarships, endowed chairs, facilities, and other initiatives across the University (see story below).

Making the announcement to 1,000 attendees at the Thirteenth Annual Founder’s Award Dinner and Campaign Close Celebration, Father McShane cited the late Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who invoked a belief in miracles beyond hope in The Cure at Troy.

“At Fordham, history always gives rise to hope. Or, to borrow Heaney’s words, at Fordham history and hope always rhyme. Playing off one another, they create a floodtide in our hearts and make miracles come true every day.”

Father McShane made the historic announcement from a stage in the center of the ballroom. Joining him in a rendition of “The Ram” song were the Fordham University Band and Orchestra, members of the champion football and women’s basketball teams, the Founder’s Scholars, and a thousand attendees who rose to their feet.

The evening also belonged to two couples whose exemplary lives and generosity have made a Fordham education a reality for many. Receiving the 2014 Founder’s Award were

Thomas A. Moore, Esq., LAW ’72, and Judith Livingston Moore, Esq., parents of a Fordham Law student; andWilliam S. Stavropoulos, Ph.D., PHA ’61, and I. Linda Stavropoulos.

The Moores, both of whom are senior partners at Kramer Dillof Livingston & Moore, have championed victims of medical malpractice and have donated generously to educational causes. Their philanthropy created an endowed professorship at Fordham Law and supported the new Fordham Law School building, set to open this fall.

William and Linda Stavropoulos have worked in tandem to create foundations supporting economic development and youth programs in their home state of Michigan. Their gifts to Fordham helped support the renovation of Hughes Hall, site of the Gabelli School of Business.

Speaking for herself and her husband Tom (who was unable to attend), Judy Livingston Moore said that her husband’s education at Fordham Law had given him “the means to accomplish a dream and champion those devastated and disenfranchised.”
William S. Stavropoulos said that, next to his wife, Linda, Fordham had been the most “transformational” thing in his life.

“Fordham’s incredible spirit and culture instilled in me confidence and gave me an education,” said Stavropoulos, who admitted that when he arrived in the Bronx from a rural high school he was not sure he could measure up. “Some 50 years later, it is great to see Fordham University flourish.”

The $2.3 million in proceeds raised from the evening’s event will benefit the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund. Fifteen of the scholars were in attendance to thank supporters. Dallas, Texas native Alexandria Johnson, a Fordham College at Lincoln Center senior, spoke for the group. She made reference to inspirational author Marianne Williamson’s claim that what scares us most is our own power, “our light.”

“Fordham recognized my light even before I did myself, and provided the tools and community I needed,” said the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. in Dance student. “Thank you for believing in us.”

The 12th annual Fordham Founder’s Award Dinner celebrated the theme of transformation, honoring both the University community and the city in which it thrives.

More than 800 Fordham alumni and friends filled the Waldorf Astoria’s Grand Ballroom on March 18 to honor three members of the University community whose support has been transformative. This year’s Founder’s Awards went to E. Gerald Corrigan, Ph.D., GSAS ’65, ’71, and Patricia Anne Heller and John Ryan Heller, PAR ’03, ’07, ’11.

In addition, the annual gala raised $2 million this year toward the Fordham Founder’s Presidential Scholarship Fund.

“Being in New York City has facilitated my involvement in community outreach, volunteering as a mentor in the Bronx, working as a tutor, and participating in scientific research at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine,” said scholarship recipient Courtney Markes, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior who is a pre-med student majoring in Latin American and Latino studies. “It has helped us all to know there was someone else who believed we all have the potential to be great, and that all we needed was the means to fully realize this promise.

“Each one of you took a chance on us,” Markes told the attendees, adding that there were no words to communicate how grateful the students are for their support.

The night began with an invocation by the Most Rev. Frank J. Caggiano, auxiliary bishop and vicar general of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and ended on a note of gratitute from Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, in honor of the newest Founders and the new Jesuit pope, Pope Francis.

In between, attendees were treated to student testimonials and an elegant rendition of “New York, New York” by Fordham’s a cappella group, the Ramblers, among other highlights.
Upon receiving the Founder’s Award, E. Gerald Corrigan said he was deeply honored and “humbled” to have his name closely associated with Fordham.

“There is something very special about Fordham that distinguishes it from other great centers of learning,” he said. “That distinction is best-captured by the Fordham brand, namely the ‘Jesuit University of New York.’”

“Those six words celebrate the common bond between this great city and this great university.”

One of the University’s most ardent supporters, Corrigan earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Fordham in economics. He spent 25 years working for the Federal Reserve before moving into the private sector, where he serves as chairman of Goldman Sachs Bank U.S.A.

“It will be 50 years this September that I started my training at Rose Hill in the economics department,” he said. “There is no doubt that my career was put forth in a very fundamental way in those years.”

The Hellers, proud parents of three Fordham graduates—Amy, FCLC ’03, Michaela, FCLC ’07, and Tim, GSB ’11—described themselves as Fordham “lifers” even though neither of them are graduates.

While their son Tim was a student at the Gabelli School of Business, the couple worked to develop the University’s first Parents’ Leadership Council, serving as its inaugural co-chairs and helping to recruit members from coast to coast. Today, the group boasts 70 members.
Attending Fordham, said John Heller, has taught their children how to think, how to care, and all about the true meaning of respect.

“We feel very fortunate to have become a part of this community,” he said. “We have always felt that we received more than we have given.”

The Chicago-based couple, the first parents to ever receive a Founder’s Award, said they have come to call New York City their “second home.”

“When we dropped Amy off 13 years ago and we heard the phrase ‘Fordham is our School and New York City is our Campus,’” said Patti Heller, “John and I did not realize they were talking to us. But like our children, our lives have been enriched and enlightened immeasurably.”

Referring to the fact that the Founder’s Dinner was happening just hours before the first Jesuit pope’s inaugural mass in Rome, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said that the convergence was completely appropriate because the evening’s three awardees had lived lives as if they’d“heeded the advice of St. Ignatius.”

“They have transformed the world in and through the action of their everyday lives,” he said.

“The pope’s election shines a new and luminous light on what we are about this evening,” said Father McShane. “Tonight we celebrate Francis by doing what we do, doing it well, and doing it with heart—great heart.”

Father McShane called attention to “the 4600 undergraduates who performed over a million hours of community service last year,” students who “chose to spend their spring breaks on Global Outreach projects,” and the “tireless work done by our faculty” to instill the transformative Fordham character in the men and women they teach.

“In the [pope’s] spotlight, I would argue that we shine—and shine in service.”

Among the attendees were retired Gen. John M. Keane, GSB ’66, financial analyst Mario Gabelli, GSB ’65, Trustee Fellow Regina Pitaro, FCRH ‘76, actress Phylicia Rashad, the first holder of Fordham’s Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre, and His Excellency Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, apostolic nuncio and permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.

As New York City showed signs of an early spring, the Fordham community assembled on March 26 to celebrate its own transformations, and those who make them possible.

Students, alumni, faculty, administrators, and friends of the University gathered at the 11th annual Founder’s Award Dinner, in the Waldorf Astoria Grand Ballroom, to pay tribute to Fordham’s most devoted benefactors and their beneficiaries.

This year’s event raised $2.2 million for the Fordham Founder’s Presidential Scholarship Fund, tying last year’s total, the second highest in Fordham’s history.

The heart of the annual gala, the Presidential Scholarship Fund supports young women and men who demonstrate a desire for excellence in all aspects of life, and whose characteristics reflect the qualities shared by Fordham’s founders. Twelve presidential scholars were in attendance.

Two distinguished alumni received the 2012 Fordham Founder’s Award: Darlene Luccio Jordan, Esq., FCRH ’89, executive director of the philanthropic Gerald R. Jordan Foundation, and John N. Tognino, PCS ’75, CEO of Pepper Financial Group, former executive at Merrill Lynch, and a former executive vice president at NASDAQ.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, told a crowd of more than 1,000 guests that the annual dinner embodies the spirit of Fordham, and of Jesuit education.

“When you put it all together, what is a Jesuit education all about? It is nothing less than empowerment and transformation—and our graduates emerge from their experience at Fordham as recognizable Jesuit graduates,” he said. “They are men and women of competence, conscience, compassion, and commitment to the cause of the human family.”

Jordan, a Rose Hill graduate who earned a law degree from Suffolk University, worked as an assistant district attorney, and later as assistant attorney general in Massachusetts. Besides working for the nonprofit organization that supports the arts, education, and health and youth services, Jordan is an active philanthropist/fundraiser, and is a member of Fordham’s Board of Trustees.

Father McShane lauded Jordan’s willingness to “do whatever it takes” to promote projects in service for others.

“My involvement with Fordham has been one of my greatest pleasures,” Jordan said. “Being on the Board has provided me with unique insight into the true workings of the University. I’ve gotten to witness firsthand the dedication to excellence that all people associate with the school.”

Tognino was introduced by Father McShane as “a true man for others.” He serves as vice chairman of the St. Barnabas Hospital Board of Trustees, and president of the Board of Directors at Union Community Health Center.

Though Tognino has also served for the last eight years as chair of the University Board of Trustees, his connection to Fordham began well before he matriculated as a student.

A native of the Bronx, Tognino grew up “in the shadow of Keating Hall.” He had to defer his college education for financial reasons upon graduating from high school. But after 15 years in the workforce, he returned as an undergraduate in what is now the School of Professional and Continuing Studies.

“I came to Fordham late in life,” Tognino said. “Fordham opened its doors to me, and gave me a chance.

“It’s a short distance from the Bronx to this stage, but it is a long journey,” he said, thanking in particular his wife, Norma, who joined him onstage to receive the award.

Earlier in the evening, Father McShane and Tognino presented the historic Insignis Medal to Mario Gabelli, GSB ’65, and Regina Pitaro, FCRH ’76. It was the 25th time since its creation in 1955 that the medal has been awarded. It distinguishes individuals who have transformed the University, and whose service to God and humanity is “ardent and unstinting.”

“Mario and Regina share an inviolate belief in education as the great equalizer, the heart and soul of the great American experiment,” said Father McShane, describing how the pair had reinvigorated Fordham’s business education by making the largest gift in the University’s history, to fund the Gabelli School of Business (GSB).

Speaking on behalf of the presidential scholars was Dan Hegarty, a GSB senior who, upon graduating in May, will begin an M.B.A. program while working as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“You made Fordham happen for us,” Hegarty told those benefactors in attendance. “Without your immense generosity, the 12 people you see on this stage would not have had the chance to attend thisincredible University.

“I look forward to the day when I sit with you as a Fordham Founder’s donor.”

The annual fundraising event, which benefits the Fordham Founder’s Presidential Scholarship Fund, raised $2 million and recognized three accomplished alumni. The 2010 Founder’s Award recipients were Maurice J. Cunniffe, FCRH ’54; Mario J. Gabelli, CBA ’65; and Regina M. Pitaro, FCRH ’76.

That was the record-breaking sum raised for the Fordham Founder’s Presidential Scholarship Fund by alumni and friends who celebrated the University’s tradition and excellence at its annual gala.

The seventh annual Founder’s Award Dinner on March 31 brought more than 1,000 supporters to the glitz and glamour of the Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf=Astoria.

The black-tie audience feted two of Fordham’s finest alumni—Robert E. Campbell, CBA’55, and Herbert A. Granath, FCRH ’54, GSAS ’55—and gave a big boost to the Presidential Scholarship Fund. Scholarship students in attendance spoke about the transformational experience that their Fordham education has created.

“Fordham has made me a student of the Jesuit tradition for life and has left no aspect of me unchanged,” said Michael Slagus, CBA ’08, who is enrolled in Fordham’s MBA program. “I know that I will face all of my future endeavors with the same eagerness that this school has instilled in me. ”

“I couldn’t be happier with the mix of nurture and tough love that I’ve received in the theatre department,” said Madeline Felix, a senior at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. “Thank you for your support, and for inspiring me—and all of us—to continue your efforts to make the Fordham family greater than ever.”

The evening opened with Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, who led the invocation and expressed his gratitude to the Society of Jesus for the outstanding Jesuit instructors he had as a student.

The event brought out Fordham luminaries from nearly every discipline, including bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark, FCLC ’79; retired General John M. Keane, CBA’66, former vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army; and Charles Osgood, FCRH ’54, legendary broadcaster and anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning.

William F. Baker, Ph.D., president emeritus of Educational Broadcasting Corporation, served as master of ceremonies.

In presenting the Founder’s Award, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said that Campbell and Granath had inherited the “daring and dangerous” spirit of Fordham founder Archbishop John Hughes.

Father McShane said of Campbell: “We remember, celebrate and honor Bob’s remarkable career at Johnson & Johnson, and his visionary leadership of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Throughout his career, he has focused on service to the human family and the protection of human dignity. Clearly, a daring and dangerous visionary.”

Campbell, who served as chair of Fordham’s Board of Trustees from 1992 to 1998, said that those who are blessed with health, wealth and education have an obligation to give back to the greater society.

“I remain indebted to my Fordham education,” he said. “I believe we are all indebted to those who go before us, those who nurture and teach us that which becomes part of our internal value system. And we leave a legacy for those who follow us.”

Father McShane also had words of high regard for Granath.

“He was not only present at the birth of television, but presided over the development and shaping of that medium,” he said. “Through it all, he insisted on seeing and cultivating its ethical side. Clearly a dangerous man.”

Granath, chairman of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and chairman emeritus of ESPN, said Fordham played a key role in helping him choose his career, and in the way he pursued that career.

He was responsible for the creation of cable channels that are now household names, including A&E, the History Channel, Lifetime and the Hallmark Channel.

“One of the things I took with me from Fordham was a strong grounding in morality and ethics and I’ve tried to apply that to my work,” Granath said. “I helped to develop a number of cable stations and I can look back and say I’m proud to have been associated with all of them.”

Illustrating his point, Granath went on to talk about his latest project, the Hallmark Channel, which he called, “programming that you can tune into any time with your children in the room,” he said to loud applause from the audience. “All-family viewing. What a concept.”