Fordham’s donors, alumni, and friends gathered on Nov. 8 not only to honor the Founder’s Scholars—Fordham students whose scholarships are supported by the event—but also to pay tribute to the evening’s honorees: Emanuel “Manny” Chirico, GABELLI ’79, PAR; his wife Joanne M. Chirico, PAR; and Joseph H. Moglia, FCRH ’71.
“I would like to thank all of you for supporting this long-overdue annual celebration of our beloved University,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.
Father McShane noted that there was “eager longing” for this Founder’s Dinner, in part because of the last 18 months but also because it kicked off the new campaign for the student experience.
“We also celebrate the public launch of the Cura Personalis campaign, a campaign that will make it possible for the University to continue to redeem the promise that it has made to its students for 180 years: the promise to provide them with the kind of personal, empowering, and transformative care that has always been the hallmark of a Fordham education,” he said. “I am happy to tell you that, thanks to the generosity that you have already shown, we have already raised $170 million toward the $350 million goal. And for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
All attendees were required to be fully vaccinated and wear a mask when entering The Glasshouse, which featured sweeping views overlooking the Hudson, outdoor terraces, and an airy ballroom lit by modern chandeliers.
David Ushery, the anchor for NBC 4 New York’s 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekday newscasts, emceed the Founder’s Dinner, which began in 2002 and has raised more than $42 million to support the Fordham Founder’s Scholarship Fund. Ushery received an honorary doctorate from Fordham in 2019, and his wife, Isabel Rivera-Ushery, is a 1990 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill.
“You have supported 130 Fordham students through this program—students who would not have benefited from our fine Jesuit education without your support and generosity,” Ushery told the more than 1,000 attendees. “You have impacted the scholars’ career paths as they are ‘setting the world on fire.’ Your impact on them guides their impact on others.”
That impact will be taken to new levels through the University’s new fundraising campaign. Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, which aims to enhance the student experience as well as prepare students to work for social justice and be leaders in today’s world. The campaign pledges to renew Fordham’s commitment to care for the whole student as a unique, complex person and to nurture their gifts accordingly.
The campaign features four main pillars: access and affordability, academic excellence, student wellness and success, and athletics—with diversity, equity, and inclusion goals embedded in each of them. The night also featured the debut of a new campaign video that highlights the student experience at Fordham.
Founder’s Scholar Sydney Veazie, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, said that the Jesuit value of cura personalis, or care of the whole person, has been an essential part of her experience at Fordham. At Fordham, Veazie said, the Latin noun cura is transformed into a verb—something that students, faculty, and staff put into action.
“[Cura Personalis] becomes an active call, a mission statement, and a defining feature of this University to care for the students who call it home—to attend to us and to our needs,” said Veazie, a double major in international political economy and classical civilization. “Each student can expect personalized care, personalized attention during our time here.”
Veazie, a Fordham tour guide who currently volunteers as a team lead for the Fordham chapter of Consult Your Community and at Belmont High School, said she plans to take the lessons of cura personalis that she learned at Fordham and carry them forward.
“I’ll be going to law school in the fall of 2022, and I eventually hope to work in government and politics and infuse cura into everything I do,” she said.
Veazie said that none of this would have been possible for her or her fellow Founder’s Scholars without the support of those in attendance.
“I cannot stress enough how important this kind of investment is,” she said. “Fordham’s emphasis on cura personalis yields a student body, a community, that itches to pay forward the lessons, the care, and the holistic development we’ve received during our time here.”
Thomas Reuter, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill and United Student Government president, served as student MC for the second half of the program. He said the campaign will help ensure that all students feel at home at Fordham and that they’re able to take advantage of the opportunities the University offers.
“This campaign will invest in what we love most about Fordham…its student-centered Jesuit, Catholic education that nurtures the whole person,” he said. “This campaign will renew and enhance our distinctive educational experience that has transformed lives since Fordham was founded in 1841.”
Father McShane expressed gratitude to the evening’s honorees for their efforts to support Fordham’s mission and its students.
“You are extraordinary … you are generous with your time, treasure, and talent … and you stand as exemplars of the renewal of the University in its identity and mission,” he said.
Manny Chirico, a titan of the fashion industry, is the longtime chairman and CEO of PVH Corp., the world’s second-largest apparel company; he plans to retire next month. Chirico served as the company’s CEO beginning in 2006 and as its board chairman since 2007. He currently serves on the boards of Montefiore Medical Center and Save the Children, while Joanne serves as the vice president of the Parish Council at Immaculate Conception Church in Tuckahoe, New York, and is on the board of Montfort Academy.
Manny, who is also a Fordham trustee, recalled that when he was a senior at Fordham, he took a philosophy class with a Jesuit professor who quoted St. Ignatius Loyola: “Go forth and set the world on fire.”
“I really like that quote, it sounded like something Vince Lombardi would say just before he sent his team out to play in the Super Bowl,” Chirico said. “I had no idea what it meant, but I wrote it down in my notebook.”
Chirico said that he asked the priest what this quote actually meant.
“In typical Jesuit fashion, he said to me, ‘Young man, that’s what you need to figure out,’” he said. “So for the last 40 years, I’ve been trying to figure out what it means to go forth and set the world on fire—I’m still working on it—but I do realize that there is no formula and no set answer. It’s a challenge to make a difference in the small things we do every day.”
Joe Moglia has combined his love of finance and football throughout his life, working as a championship-winning defensive coordinator at Dartmouth before joining the MBA training program at Merrill Lynch and eventually becoming CEO and chairman of TD Ameritrade, a post he held for more than 24 years, before returning to football as the head coach at Coastal Carolina University. Moglia currently serves as the chair of athletics at Coastal Carolina and board chairman of Fundamental Global Investors and Capital Wealth Advisors.
When he was a senior at Fordham, Moglia took a job coaching at Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware, and said that he wanted to provide his players with something more than just a desire to win.
“How do you lay the foundation upon which those boys become men?” he said.
“We created a philosophy that said, ‘A real man, a real woman, a real leader, stands on their own two feet, takes responsibility for themselves, always treats others with dignity and respect, and deals with the consequences of their actions,” he said.
Moglia said that this mindset and philosophy came from Fordham.
“This is a university for others, that loves others, so for me, for whatever I may have accomplished in my life, at the end of the day I’m so incredibly proud to be part of Fordham … and hopefully as I go forward, I continue to make Fordham proud,” he said.
The Chiricos and Moglia were originally supposed to be honored in 2020, but that Founder’s Dinner was canceled due to the pandemic. They were also recognized earlier this year at a virtual toast for scholars and honorees.
The night also featured several performances: Tyler Tagliaferro, a 2017 graduate of the Fordham College at Lincoln Center, played the bagpipes as guests walked in; the Young People’s Chorus of New York City performed; Jesira Rodriguez, a Fordham College at Lincoln Center senior and a Founder’s Scholar, sang the national anthem; and the Fordham Ramblers closed the evening with an a cappella rendition of “The Ram,” Fordham’s fight song.
Father McShane called on those in attendance to honor the members of the Fordham community who preceded them by investing in and supporting current students.
“You were formed by and now possess the intangibles that make for Fordham’s greatness, and that distinguish Fordham from other universities,” he said. “You are men and women for others. You are men and women of character, grit, determination, integrity, expansiveness of heart, and restlessness of spirit. And so, I turn to you to enable Fordham to make the kind of rich transformative experience that you received here available to your younger brothers and sisters.”
“It has been, as we New Yorkers would say, ‘a hell of a year.’ And yet, we, Fordham, did not surrender,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, raising a glass from his office at the Rose Hill campus to his computer screen during the virtual event. “Against all odds, and thanks in no small measure to your great generosity, we were once again able to lean into the moment and to move forward with a sense of purpose and with defiant hope … On behalf of everyone at Fordham, especially our students, I thank you for your ongoing support—support that enabled us to prevail and to dream of a future filled with hope.”
The event offered an immediate way to celebrate the scholars, donors, and honorees this spring, when the Founder’s Dinner would normally take place. The in-person dinner has been rescheduled for Nov. 8, with plans for the usual Founder’s fanfare at a new Manhattan venue—the Glasshouse—pending guidance from city and state authorities.
More than 100 members of the Fordham community gathered on Zoom to salute the 2021 Fordham Founder’s Award recipients: Emanuel (Manny) Chirico, GABELLI ’79, PAR, chairman and former CEO of the global apparel company PVH Corp., and his wife, Joanne M. Chirico, PAR, and Joseph H. (Joe) Moglia, FCRH ’71, former CEO and chairman of TD Ameritrade, chairman of Fundamental Global Investors and Capital Wealth Advisors, chairman of FG New America Acquisition Corp., and chair of athletics and executive advisor to the president at Coastal Carolina University.
“Although we’re not together in person, we are thrilled to be together virtually to celebrate,” said Darlene Luccio Jordan, FCRH ’89, Fordham trustee and Founder’s Dinner co-chair. “We have, this evening, our Founder’s honorees, past and present, and all of you: our generous donors and our Fordham Founder’s scholars, representatives of the University’s most diverse scholarship fund.”
This past year, the University raised $2,658,795 for the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund—the largest amount raised since the first Fordham Founder’s Dinner in 2002—and celebrated the close of Faith and Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid. The newest fundraising campaign, which will focus on the student experience, will be launched at the rescheduled 2021 Founder’s Dinner, said Luccio, co-chair of the new campaign.
The virtual reception began with the screening of a pre-recorded video featuring former Founder’s Scholars who provided updates on their careers and growing families, from as near as the South Bronx and as far away as Belgium. Among them was an aspiring family medicine physician at University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, a director of strategy at The New York Times, a communications strategist who works with the European Commission, and a Harvard Law School graduate and current director on Barclays’ litigation team in New York, where she lives with her husband, a fellow Fordham alumnus, and their two-year-old daughter.
“As you can see and hear, not only are they all over the United States and the world, but they are having incredible experiences in making impacts on our society,” said Luccio, a Founder’s 2012 honoree, directly addressing the donors on the Zoom call. “And I know all of you are just as proud as I am to be a part of this incredible group in supporting these absolutely amazing young men and women.”
Three of the current 48 Founder’s scholars shared their stories and gratitude in real time. They reflected on how their Fordham scholarships helped them pursue their career goals amid the pandemic and beyond.
Benjamin Coco, FCRH ’23, said he is able to attend Fordham for a fifth year to finish his double degree in physics and English and double minor in math and philosophy, thanks to the Founder’s Scholarship.
“I was inspired by former Founder’s Award recipient, Alex Trebek, to pursue as much knowledge as I can,” said Coco, who plans on pursuing a doctorate in astrophysics. “This universe is filled with countless mysteries, and I hope to discover many of them. I want to express my most sincere gratitude to all of you for making this happen for me.”
For Kristen Harb, a senior at the Gabelli School of Business and a California native, the pandemic posed a series of challenges. Despite the distance and three-hour time zone difference, Harb worked with her classmates to create the first club at the Lincoln Center campus focused on empowering women in finance and economics, where she helped to mentor more than 120 students.
“In May, I will receive much more than a degree in global business,” said Harb. “In the past year, I have learned so much about what I am capable of in times of hardship and how my Jesuit education has prepared me to thrive in the face of adversity—and for that, I am eternally grateful.”
The third and final student speaker, Tauland Kaca, FCLC ’21, shared a personal anecdote. When he was 8 years old, his family immigrated to the U.S. from Albania, a former communist regime that limited his parents’ career paths. Kaca said his parents sacrificed their livelihoods and family ties at home to give him and his older brother access to greater opportunities abroad. But a lack of resources began to jeopardize their hopes for their two sons.
“Since my parents endured many financial burdens to support my brother, who also went to Fordham and then to Columbia for his master’s, I decided to commute from Brooklyn to the Lincoln Center campus. Regardless, it didn’t take long for me to realize the financial strain my Fordham education was placing on my family … When I received the Fordham Founder’s scholarship last year, those worries faded away. This is especially true amid the pandemic, since my parents have been laid off for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, my dreams have yet to be derailed,” said Kaca, who is considering becoming a judge or a foreign ambassador. “I want to thank you for your support, but most importantly, I want to thank you for your willingness to help students like myself work towards their dreams, free of financial worry.”
The hour-long evening reception included several other components, including an opening prayer from Fordham trustee Thomas J. Regan, S.J.; pre-recorded performances from Fordham’s Satin Dolls, Ramblers, and the University Choir; and a virtual wine tasting conducted by Gabriella Macari, GABELLI ’09, general manager of Macari Vineyards on the North Folk of Long Island. Two Founder’s scholars, Sydney Veazie, FCRH ’22, and Cameron Chiulli, GABELLI ’21, also livened up the night with several Fordham-related trivia questions, which guests participated in via Zoom’s poll feature.
“This evening is our gift to you. The 48 Founder’s scholars are so grateful that we are still learning, thriving, and dreaming at Fordham with your generous support,” said the evening’s emcee, Founder’s scholar Stevie Rosignol-Cortez, FCLC ’21, a political science student from Texas and an aspiring foreign correspondent.
At the end of the night, Father McShane and Bob Daleo, GABELLI ’72, chair of Fordham’s Board of Trustees and co-chair of the Founder’s Dinner, offered several toasts to the three Founder’s 2021 honorees; the previous Founder’s award recipients, many of whom joined the virtual reception; and Bill Baker, president emeritus of Thirteen-WNET and Fordham’s journalist-in-residence, who retired this year from his 12-year-long role as the Founder’s Dinner emcee.
“My friends, let me end with a final toast to the evening,” said Father McShane. “To Fordham: may she always be what she was founded to be—a daring and dangerous school where character has been formed, talent has been nurtured, and hope has been borne for 180 years.”
]]>“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.”
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.
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.
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.
]]>Now Susan Conley Salice, FCRH ’82, and Thomas P. Salice, GABELLI ’82, have made another investment in Fordham and its students. Their latest gift—$2 million—will support several important initiatives, leading with student scholarship as a part of Fordham’s Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid.
The Salices are among the University’s most generous alumni. In addition to other gifts, they donated to Fordham’s last capital campaign, Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham, to build the Salice and Conley residence hall on the Rose Hill campus, named in honor of their parents. The residence has housed hundreds of Fordham students since 2010.
Susan says there’s a good reason why they give.
“We both required scholarship dollars in order to be able to attend Fordham,” she said. She was one of the first members of her family to earn a bachelor’s degree, as was Tom the first to attend college in his family.
“If Fordham hadn’t come through, our lives would likely be quite different. We felt that the Jesuit education and values we received and embraced at Fordham made a significant difference in our lives individually—and, of course, together. That’s very powerful when you think about it.”
She has fond memories from her four years at Fordham—tutoring middle school students in the Bronx, working the grill at the McDonald’s on Fordham Road, studying for what seemed like endless hours in the library, sitting at Sunday night Mass at the University Church with her future husband. She also recalled a more recent special moment from last May—the day she and her husband saw their daughter graduate from Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service. But perhaps most importantly, she feels the weight of her Fordham education at work in the skills she developed as an undergrad: leadership, curiosity, and awareness of the world around her.
“I graduated from Fordham being much more community-aware, world-aware. You question everything, interested in understanding the why,” she said, “and understanding that you have an opportunity and a responsibility to become engaged difference makers in the community and the world at large, for the greater good.”
Tom, a Fordham trustee fellow, went on to become co-founder and managing member of a private equity firm SFW Capital Partners, and the chairman of its investment committee; Susan became a vice president at Diversified Investment Advisors, a retirement investment firm.
Today, Susan devotes much of her time and resources to the causes that are important to her and her family. She is co-chair of Fordham’s Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid and a University trustee. She also serves on other nonprofit boards. In 2017, she was also a keynote speaker at Fordham’s first annual Women’s Philanthropy Summit.
“Giving [to scholarships] is an opportunity to change a life—to make an impact in whatever capacity you are able to do so,” she said in her keynote speech.
“Many people can usually afford more than they think they can—and I mean that in a very simple way,” she added. “Perhaps one can give up Starbucks for a week and donate that money. Over the course of a year, that amount can add up and have an important impact.”
She encourages potential donors to reconnect with their alma mater and recall how it felt to be a young, 20-something college kid with all the possibilities in the world.
“When you first graduate, you’re busy. You’re working. You may be raising a family,” she said. “But if you are able to make time to go back to campus, listen to a lecture, attend an event, actually talk to students and professors, you’re going to reconnect with Fordham. You will see the promise students hold in their faces and the potential each has to live as women and men for others.”
]]>The additional $2.5 million will be added to a fund for a new science building to be built eventually at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, to which the Beplers have already given $7.8 million.
“Steve was a true man of Fordham, and Kim has honored him and us with her ongoing passion for Fordham’s noble mission and involvement in the life of the University,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “We are truly grateful for Steve and Kim’s extraordinary generosity and care for Fordham. This gift will help educate generations of scholars in the Jesuit tradition, and is an investment in the sciences at Fordham.”
The University is seeing growth in STEM disciplines, including a rise in science majors, the newly launched Fordham Center for Cybersecurity (the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have designated Fordham as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education this spring), in addition to the University’s graduates traditionally high acceptance rates in U.S. medical schools.
At the time of Steve Bepler’s death, in October 2016, Robert D. Daleo, chair of Fordham’s Board of Trustees, said, “Steve Bepler was a trusted colleague and a very astute businessman. My heart goes out to Kim and his family on their great loss. Steve was generous with his time and gifts, and both genial and straightforward in his relations with his colleagues on the Board. I will miss his wisdom and his good company.”
Kim and Steve Bepler’s investment in Fordham’s mission is profound and far reaching, now totaling $31 million. Their gifts have created several other endowed professorships and scholarships, supported Fordham’s Catholic and Jesuit mission, and they have given generously to the Fordham Founder’s Scholarship Fund. Their generosity also had an impact on several Rose Hill buildings, including the University Church (and later a new organ), where the couple contributed toward its restoration. Two years ago, their philanthropy was recognized with the naming of Bepler Commons in Faber Hall. The Beplers are among the three largest donors to the University. Fordham honored the Beplers with the Fordham Founder’s Award in 2007, and in 2014, Steve Bepler was awarded the University’s highest honor, a Doctor of Humane Letters, at Fordham’s Commencement.
Steve Bepler worked as an investment professional for nearly five decades. After earning his M.B.A. at Columbia University School of Business in 1966, he began his career at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in the investment advisory department. He joined Capital Group in 1972 and remained there for four decades, rising to senior vice president and director at the company’s Capital Research Global Investors division. He also served as an equity portfolio manager at American Funds Washington Mutual Investors Fund, Capital World Growth and Income Fund, and EuroPacific Growth Fund. He and his EuroPacific Growth team were twice (1999 and 2009) recognized by Morningstar’s “Fund Manager of the Year” Awards in the international stock arena. In addition to his financial work, Bepler taught a course at Stanford University for more than a decade.
The Beplers were married in 2002. They gave generously to a variety of educational institutions and causes, including the Archdiocese of New York, New York Nativity Schools, and Cristo Rey New York High School in Harlem. Steve Bepler was also a benefactor and board member of the Forman School in Litchfield, Connecticut, Barnard College, the Inner-City Foundation, the Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C., and Fairfield University in Connecticut.
“Like her late husband, Kim Bepler exemplifies the Jesuit principle of men and women for others,” said Father McShane. “We are pleased beyond words that she has embraced the community of students and scholars at Fordham. Her kindness and generosity will not only change the lives of students for generations to come, but also exhorts us to become better women and men in the service of the University.”
]]>John “Jack” P. Kehoe, FCRH ’60, FCLC ’85, a beloved Trustee Fellow who “spared nothing of himself on behalf of Fordham,” died on June 27. He was 78 years old.
“We have lost a great heart today. Jack Kehoe was a gentleman through and through, devoted to Fordham, and deeply generous with his time and resources,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University.
“He was a warm and loyal friend and mentor to me, and I will miss him more than words can say. I know the Fordham family joins me in keeping Peggy and all of Jack’s family and loved ones in our thoughts and prayers.”
Born on August 5, 1938, Kehoe, a resident of New York City, first enrolled at Fordham in 1956. In 1958, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, where he served as sergeant up until 1964, receiving an American Spirit of Honor Medal.
He received his certification in investment analysis from The New York Institute of Finance in 1960, and went on to earn his master’s degree in business policy from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business in 1979.
Named one of Irish America magazine’s “Wall Street 50,” Kehoe had a long career in corporate financial relations. As senior counselor of a global financial consultancy, The Abernathy MacGregor Group, Kehoe advised clients on matters related to transaction communications, investor relations, and crisis management.
He held a number of capital markets positions on Wall Street for over a decade with two member firms of the New York Stock Exchange before being named president of a subsidiary mutual fund management/distribution company. He also became an allied member of the New York Stock Exchange.
From 2005 to 2011, Kehoe served as a Trustee of Fordham University, where he held several leadership positions during his tenure. These included vice chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee, chair of the University Relations Committee, a member of the Board’s Executive Committee, and secretary of the Board of Trustees. In 2009, he was a recipient of the Fordham Founder’s Award.
Kehoe also served as co-chair of Fordham’s historic capital campaign, Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham, which closed in 2014, having raised $540 million.
He was elected a Trustee Fellow in 2016.
Up until his death, Kehoe also served on the Fordham College at Lincoln Center Board of Advisers and on the Executive Committee of the President’s Council.
Those close to him described him as a “devoted father, husband, and friend” who “loved Fordham and all of its people.”
“He had the strength and fortitude of his Marine Corps training, yet the empathy, compassion, and faith of a son of Ignatius,” said Fordham Trustee Fellow James E. Buckman, FCRH ’66, PAR, friend, and retired vice chairman of York Capital Management. “He spared nothing of himself on behalf of Fordham, from sharing his treasure and his time to his leadership and total commitment.”
In 2007, Kehoe became a member of the inaugural class inducted into the University’s Archbishop Hughes Society, which recognizes those individuals and institutions whose lifetime support of the University totals $1 million or more. Among Kehoe’s many contributions to the University was a generous gift to rebuild the Lowenstein Center’s Black Box Studio Theatre on the Lincoln Center campus, which was renamed the Veronica Lally Kehoe Studio Theatre in memory of his late wife, Veronica, FCLC ’02, who passed away in 2007.
At Kehoe’s request, a portion of that gift was allocated to establish a scholarship fund for Fordham students in need.
Kehoe is survived by his five children, Maura Ann, John, Kevin, Brendan, and Allise; three stepchildren Meg, Jay, and Brooke; and his wife, Peggy Brennan Hassett.
The venue may have been new, but it was the same steadfast Fordham spirit that rallied the crowd at the 16th annual Fordham Founder’s Dinner, which raised $2.4 million and celebrated the official launch of Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid. Through the campaign, announced during Fordham’s 175th anniversary year, the University aims to raise $175 million.
Held for the first time at Cipriani Wall Street, Fordham’s biggest fundraising event of the year honored two of the University’s great champions and 30 Founder’s Scholars—recipients of the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship.
As Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, welcomed the evening’s 1,100 guests, he directed their attention to a video message recorded by Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, a Fordham parent and benefactor. Trebek offered this “Final Jeopardy!” clue in the category 19-Letter Words: “Fordham University is celebrating 175 years, a period of time known as this.” The correct response? “What is a dodransbicentennial?”
Father McShane thanked guests for their “astounding generosity” at Fordham’s Dodransbicentennial Founder’s dinner, telling them that their support of scholarships and financial aid “opens up a world of near-infinite possibility for these exceptional young women and men.”
Speaking on behalf of his fellow Founder’s Scholars, Sal Cocchiaro, a December 2016 graduate of the Gabelli School of Business, praised Fordham for encouraging students to examine their conscience—a conscience, he said, that “pains us when we see injustice, discrimination, hatred, and hopelessness. A conscience that reminds us that we are at our best when we foster equality, inclusion, and love for one another.” (Watch Cocchiaro’s full speech below.)
Cocchiaro told guests that by supporting Founder’s scholarships, they have “relieved a great burden, and have allowed us to focus our time and energy on making this world a greater place.” And he announced his own aspirations: “It is my dream to one day serve as the mayor of this great city of New York,” he said to loud applause, “and I am just truly blessed to be here tonight and have this opportunity to share that dream with all of you.”
Founder’s Award honoree Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, GSAS ’71, reminisced fondly about being set up with her husband, Maurice “Mo” Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, by another Fordham couple, Nancy Phelan and her late husband, Jake. (Watch her full speech here.)
“What a wonderful introduction that turned out to be,” she said, noting that she and her husband have much in common, including the fact that they are both Fordham alumni who were scholarship recipients.
“This community of Fordham is very special. It has the power to instantly transform us from strangers to friends—whether we meet one another by sheer chance, at a Founder’s dinner, an alumni gathering, or simply a blind date,” said Cunniffe, a Fordham trustee and co-chair of the Faith & Hope campaign. She earned three degrees at Fordham, including a doctorate in French literature, and went on to become a successful executive in the cosmetics industry and in executive search.
“Mo and I are both very proud of our Jesuit education and what it has enabled us each to do in our lives. And most importantly, we are grateful for how it guides us to contribute to others,” she said.
Carolyn and Mo, a 2010 Founder’s Award recipient, have been generous benefactors of Fordham. In 2016, the couple made a $20 million gift to the University—the second largest in its history—to establish the Maurice and Carolyn Cunniffe Presidential Scholars Program.
Also receiving the Founder’s Award was Stephen J. McGuinness, GABELLI ’82,’91, a former vice president at Citicorp, vice president of global operations at Twitter, and partner at Goldman Sachs, where he championed diversity through his involvement with a college preparatory program. Before he held any of those roles, he was a kid from the Bronx.
“Mom and Dad came over from Ireland in the mid-1950s, got married, settled in the Fordham section of the Bronx, and raised five children,” he said. “We were a very close family, and not just because the seven of us shared a two-bedroom basement apartment.” McGuinness said visits to Fordham’s campus offered a way for his mom to “get the kids off the block.” Years later, McGuinness, now a Fordham trustee, worked in the registrar’s office as a undergraduate business student. He named several Fordham staff members who were “very, very kind to me and had an influence on me for a lot of things that I ended up doing in my life.” (Watch the full speech by Stephen McGuinness here.)
Founder’s Scholars Genie Hughes and Christopher Wilson took the stage to announce the Faith & Hope campaign, noting that as they spoke, the lights on the Empire State Building were shining maroon in celebration of Fordham’s Dodransbicentennial.
“In honor of our 175th anniversary,” Hughes said, “this campaign is committed to raising $175 million to make a Fordham education more affordable to the best and brightest students.”
Wilson added, “Your generosity will help Fordham advance its noble mission and ensure that the long maroon line will continue to include the sons and daughters of every class, race, and creed.”
Returning to the stage to reflect on Fordham’s past, present, and future, Father McShane noted that from its humble beginnings as St. John’s College, founded in 1841, the University has seen more than its share of challenges. “Through it all, we have prevailed,” he said.
“We are no longer a school of six students on a rural campus of beautiful Westchester. We are now an institution with nine schools, over 15,000 students, three campuses in the metropolitan area, and international outposts in London, Beijing, and Pretoria.”
Father McShane thanked guests for what they have contributed to Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid to date. “I’m very happy, proud, and deeply grateful to announce that … you have already given $100 million toward the $175 million goal,” he said, as the number flashed on the big screen behind him. He asked that all in attendance continue to support Fordham and “become part of what is a story of true greatness.”
Photos by Chris Taggart, Jerry Millevoi, and Bryan Smith
Watch the video for Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid.
]]>This month, the Cunniffes have taken their philanthropy to an even higher level, with a transformative $20 million gift that will be devoted to funding student financial aid.
The newly titled Maurice and Carolyn Cunniffe Presidential Scholars Program will encompass one of the largest merit scholarships available to Fordham students, and will pave the way for a new generation of women and men to receive a comprehensive Jesuit education.
Presidential scholars are generally ranked in the top 1–2 percent in their high school class, excel in academics and extracurricular activities, and exhibit leadership in their academic and personal lives.
With the new funding, the program will challenge the scholars and enrich their undergraduate experience through partnerships among key academic units across the University, including undergraduate dean’s offices and the Office of Prestigious Fellowships. The gift will also support summer programs focusing on service learning, experiential learning through international immersion, professional internships, research opportunities, and close mentoring by faculty.
Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, called the gift—the second largest in the University’s history—a monumental display of generosity, one that puts Fordham’s current campaign for financial aid at $82 million towards a $175 million goal.
“We renamed the administration building Cunniffe House to acknowledge Mo and Carolyn’s great generosity and service to Fordham, as well as their integrity and steadfastness,” Father McShane said. “Having known Mo for more than two decades, I can say with authority that his accomplishments and humility are unparalleled. It is very much Fordham’s honor to have their names associated with our most prestigious scholars.”
Mo Cunniffe has been a part of the Fordham family for almost seven decades. A child of Irish immigrants in the Bronx, he lived within walking distance of the Fordham Rose Hill campus. He graduated from Fordham Preparatory School in 1950 and enrolled in the University, where he earned a degree in physics. After graduating, he went on to become a successful engineer, businessman, and entrepreneur. He served on Fordham Prep’s board of trustees from 1983-1995 and the University’s board of trustees from 1995-2003.
Carolyn Cunniffe received her bachelor’s degree from Fordham College at Rose Hill, and her master’s and doctoral degrees from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She was a vice president at Revlon and Chanel before joining Cablevision systems, where she was a senior vice president. She currently serves on the board of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, and Fordham’s Board of Trustees.
In 2010, Mo Cunniffe received the Fordham Founder’s Award, recognizing the ways in which his life reflects the University’s defining traditions, and at Fordham’s 171st Commencement ceremony in May, the University bestowed upon him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, for his role as one of the University community’s most vital and longstanding supporters.
He said that his latest gift not only recognizes and supports the place that has been like a home for nearly his entire life, but also makes it possible for more generations to follow in his steps.
“We believe in Fordham and its mission,” Mo Cunniffe said. “Fordham has educated people of all social strata, including immigrants and students without funds. It makes all kinds of sense to us to continue to support this mission, which is also in the interest of society.”
Roger A. Milici Jr., vice president for development and University relations at Fordham, called the gift a bold investment in humanity and in the promise that future Cunniffe Presidential Scholars offer our global society, their families and their workplaces. He noted that with cumulative giving approaching $35 million, the Cunniffes are setting the pace for philanthropy at Fordham.
]]>“We have lost one of the great ones today,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “He was so many things: a thoughtful and highly effective member of the Board of Trustees, a generous benefactor, and a dear friend. He was a man of great love and great integrity, and was singularly devoted to his family and the University. I know the Fordham family joins me in keeping his loved ones in their thoughts and prayers.”
Born in New York City on July 21, 1942, Bepler first encountered the Jesuits after his family moved to Seattle, Washington and joined a Jesuit parish, where he became an altar boy. That spiritual introduction grew into a lifelong intellectual relationship with the Jesuits that began at Seattle Preparatory School and culminated in a return to New York and enrollment at Fordham.
Two uncles and an elder brother, Peter, preceded him at the Rose Hill campus.
“They ask why on the important questions,” he once said of the Jesuits. “They’re willing to ask why, even if they don’t get the answers they want.”
At Fordham, Bepler worked six days a week, played intramural sports, and sang in the glee club, all while studying Greek and Latin. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in classics.
Bepler’s career as an investment professional spanned nearly five decades. After earning his M.B.A. at Columbia University School of Business in 1966, he began his career at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in the investment advisory department. He joined Capital Group in 1972 and remained there for four decades, rising to senior vice president and director at the company’s Capital Research Global Investors division.He also held positions as an equity portfolio manager at American Funds Washington Mutual Investors Fund, Capital World Growth and Income Fund, and EuroPacific Growth Fund. He and his EuroPacific Growth team were twice (1999 and 2009) recognized by Morningstar’s “Fund Manager of the Year” Awards in the international stock arena. In addition to his financial work, Bepler taught a course at Stanford University for more than a decade.
“Throughout his 40-plus year career at Capital Group, Steve embodied our core values. He operated with the highest integrity, was a collaborative partner with his colleagues, and made all decisions with the investor in mind. I speak on behalf of many of our long-tenured colleagues and retirees, when I say that he will be missed,” said Tim Armour, chairman and chief executive officer of Capital Group.
“Steve Bepler was a trusted colleague and a very astute businessman,” said Robert Daleo, GABELLI ’72, chairman of the Fordham Board of Trustees. “My heart goes out to Kim and his family on their great loss. Steve was generous with his time and gifts, and both genial and straightforward in his relations with his colleagues on the Board. I will miss his wisdom and his good company.”
Bepler and his wife, Kim, were married 14 years ago. The couple gave generously to a variety of educational institutions and causes, including the Archdiocese of New York, New York Nativity Schools, and Cristo Rey New York High School in Harlem. Bepler was also a benefactor and board member of the Forman School in Litchfield, Connecticut, Barnard College, the Inner-City Foundation, the Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C., and Fairfield University in Connecticut. Bepler had struck up a friendship with Fairfield’s president, Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., when Father von Arx was the dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill.
Bepler held several leadership positions during his tenure on Fordham’s Board of Trustees, including chair of the Student Affairs Committee, vice chair of the Mission and Identity Committee, and member of the Executive Committee. He also served as a trustee of Barnard College.
At Fordham, the couple created several scholarships, supported science education, and gave generously to the Fordham Fund. Their generosity also had an impact on several Rose Hill buildings, including the University Church, where the couple contributed toward its restoration. Two years ago, their philanthropy was recognized with the naming of Bepler Commons at Faber Hall. The Beplers are among the three largest donors to the University.
“Steve was a quiet and generous philanthropist,” said James Buckman, FCRH ’66, a member of the Fordham Board of Trustees. “While a leading benefactor of Fordham University and other Jesuit apostolic enterprises, one would rarely find his name associated with them. He preferred to endow a university chair in the name of a favorite Jesuit teacher than his own. He will be sorely missed.”
When the University honored the couple with the Fordham Founder’s Award in 2007, Kim, a successful businesswoman in her own right, spoke of her husband’s affinity for, and devotion to, his alma mater.
“I love my husband and his love of all things Fordham,” she said.
At the 2014 commencement ceremony, Bepler received the University’s highest honor: a Doctor of Humane Letters.
Throughout his life, Bepler credited the Jesuits with laying the groundwork for his success in life. He specifically honored the educators so dear to his heart by endowing two Fordham faculty chairs: the John D. Boyd, S.J., Chair in Poetic Imagination and the Karl Rahner, S.J., Memorial Chair in Theology.
Father Boyd, one of Bepler’s professors, was a distinguished scholar whose work focused on the poetic imagination and its relationship to life.
“His was the third class I ever took at Fordham,” Bepler said in 2009, speaking at an inaugural ceremony to launch the chair. “He loved to teach. He made everything interesting, which is such an important and rare quality in an educator.”
“His love of poetry was apparent both in our conversations and in his endowing a chair with the splendid tile, ‘Chair in the Poetic Imagination,’” said Heather Dubrow, Ph.D., the holder of the John D. Boyd, S.J. Chair in the Poetic Imagination at Fordham. “I will always be grateful to Stephen and Kim Bepler for enabling me to come to Fordham.”
As avid art and antique collectors, the couple traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia.
In addition to his loving wife, Kim, Bepler is survived by three children from a previous marriage, Bettina, Peter, and Galen; his brother Peter, and sister, Cathy; and two grandchildren. He also leaves behind three dogs, to which he was devoted.
“We all come to this end point in our lives. But I have known preciously few who have spent willingly their entire lives in full conscious preparation for this moment,” said John Kehoe, FCRH ’60, FCLC ’85, a Fordham trustee. “Steve was such a rare person. His generosity of spirit in all things was as effusive as the quickness of his wry wit and humor. He treasured the gift of his early Jesuit education and, as a true disciple, labored to extend it to as many young people as he could in as many ways as he could find to do so, right to the end of his life. Because of that, and of his wife, Kim, having shared fully in that journey, his work and spirit will continue to live and be remembered long into the future.”
]]>A film star. A man whose life inspired a movie. A groundbreaking African-American dean. An Olympic champion. Recipients of the Medal of Honor and the Medal of Freedom.
“These are our heroes,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.
Father McShane was reflecting on the latest Hall of Honor inductees, who were celebrated at reception following a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Oct. 1.
It was a heady evening, which saw well over a dozen members of the Fordham family inducted into the Hall of Honor, the Magis Society—and one very singular Founder’s Award going to His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan.
In addition, the Mass also represented the fall opening celebration of the University’s Dodransbicentennial year.
“We present these honorees to the world as examples of what a Fordham education produces: men and women of exceptional talent who have pursued excellence in all they did, and who have devoted their lives to the service of others,” said Father McShane.
At the cathedral Cardinal Dolan celebrated the “grand marriage” of faith and reason, represented by the education many have received at Fordham. He said that, back in 1841 Fordham founder Archbishop John Hughes fully understood that Catholic education would provide the “intellectual wattage” needed in the then-young city.
Cardinal Dolan also said that knowledge obtained at the University, whether in philosophy, theology, math, chemistry, business, art, literature, or science, “speaks in some way of Jesus the word made flesh.”
At the reception held at the University Club following Mass, Fordham launched the brand new Magis Society. The society recognizes individuals and groups whose support to the University exceeds $15 million. The inaugural class included: Stephen E. Bepler, FCRH ’64; Kim B. Bepler; Maurice J. Cunniffe, FCRH ’54; Caroline Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., GSAS ’71; Mario J. Gabelli, GABELLI ’65; Regina M. Pitaro, FCRH ’76; Thomas A. Moore, LAW ’72, PAR ’15; Judith Livingston Moore, PAR ’15; the Jesuits of Fordham; the McKeon Family; and the Walsh Family.
A few guests noted that having the reception at the club, once solely the province of Ivy League universities, is yet another reminder of how far Fordham has come. And when film actress and honoree Patricia Clarkson, FCLC ’82, entered in a blue gown it brought its own brand of sparkle to that august institution as well.
In accepting her Hall of Honor award, Clarkson said a Fordham education had carried her through her 31-year acting career. She grew emotional when recalling her acting professor, Joseph Jezewski, who she said was the first to tell her that her “talent was limitless” and taught her how to live a “true artistic life,” which had little to do with fame and all to do with “love, passion, compassion, and truth.” Clarkson is the winner of two Emmy Awards and has been nominated for an Academy Award.
“I don’t need an academy award; I’m in your Hall of Honor,” she said.
Clarkson set the emotional tone for other acceptance speeches, which were largely delivered by family members of Fordham alumni who had passed away, including the daughter of honoree James B. Donovan, FCRH ’37. Donovan, a lawyer and naval officer, was the protagonist of the recent Steven Spielberg film, Bridge of Spies.
Mary Ellen Donovan Fuller said her dad loved to hang out with the Jesuits at Rose Hill because “everybody knew the Jesuits were the intelligentsia, and dad loved that.”
J. Donald Dumpson, nephew of honoree James R. Dumpson, the former dean of the Graduate School of Social Service and first black commissioner of the New York City Department of Welfare, said that his uncle taught him how to “dream big” and how to “love those you don’t know.”
The extraordinary valor of two World War II heroes, honorees John Fidelis Hurley, S.J., FCRH 1914, and Thomas J. Kelly, UGE ’56, LAW ’62, brought gravitas to the room. Father Hurley received the Medal of Freedom from General Douglas MacArthur for his work in Philippine internment camps, where he more than once risked his life to ease the suffering of others. Kelly was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing 17 men on a battlefield in Germany.
John J. F. Mulcahy, Sr., of St. John’s Class of 1894, rounded out the list of honorees. He was the founder of Fordham’s rowing club, and winner of the gold and silver medals at the 1904 Olympics. Despite being active on campus well over a century ago, Mulcahy, like all the inductees, should serve as an inspiration to today’s students, said Father McShane.
“We hold these men and women up to our students to say: Here are your older sisters and brothers who have done great things. Extraordinary things. Emulate them.”
]]>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 25th 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.