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 day began with 75 hardy souls taking part in the annual Ram Run, which sent runners on a 5K loop around the campus.

While they passed beneath the boughs of stately elm trees lining the campus, other revelers passed beneath the arches of Rose Hill’s Southern Boulevard entrance, heading to the parking lot where they set up for tailgate parties. The lot drew fans of both Fordham and the College of the Holy Cross, whose Crusaders ultimately won the Homecoming matchup 49 to 27.

Joe Jordan, GABELLI ’74, a Fordham Football Hall of Fame inductee who received the 2019 Mara Family Award, joined former teammate John Lumelleau, FCRH ’74 at the lot. Jordan was a freshman when football was reinstated as a Division I varsity program in 1970, after it was stopped in 1954 and revived as a club in the 1960s and then a Division III team in the NCAA.

“They brought back varsity on a shoestring, really,” said Lumelleau, who is also a member of the Fordham University Board of Trustees. Still, there was excitement on campus for the program, particularly a game their freshman year against Georgetown, soon after legendary coach Vince Lombardi, FCRH ’37, passed away.

“At halftime, they had the six surviving Seven Blocks of Granite,” Jordan recalled, citing the nickname given to Fordham’s fearsome linemen, including Lombardi. Wellington Mara “[current co-owner of the New York Giants]. was there, Marie Lombardi was there. There was no Lombardi Center—that’s when they dedicated it.”

The pair and many of their teammates still get together every year as a part of the “Rams of the ’70s” group that Lumelleau, a 2015 Walsh Family Award winner, helped start.

Reuniting Under the Big Tent

In the center of campus, beside the field where the Holy Cross Crusaders would face off with the Fordham Rams for the 57th time, several thousand alumni, students, families, and friends flocked to massive tents on Edwards Parade for burgers, pulled chicken, and libations. Several tables offered information about various alumni affinity groups, while the Fordham University Alumni Association (FUAA) collected four boxes of goods that attendees donated for POTS, a nonprofit that helps individuals facing poverty in the Bronx.

Outside the tent, Giant Jenga games lured guests on the west side of the parade, while face painting, a bouncy castle, wall climbing, and corn hole enticed families by the steps of Keating Hall.

Elsewhere on campus, members of the Mimes and Mummers Alumni Association celebrated their annual “Collins-coming” at Collins Auditorium, and former Fordham Law School Assistant Dean Robert J. Reilly, FCRH ’72, LAW ’75, guided a group of 30 on a walking tour of the campus titled Hidden in Plain Sight: Discover the Jesuit Presence at Rose Hill. Among the tidbits he shared was the fact that the statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola next to Hughes Hall was commissioned by Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, who requested that the founder of the Jesuits be depicted facing directly up at the heavens.

“If you Google St. Ignatius of Loyola, you will not find that except for one place. This is a very, very unusual statue,” he said.

A Welcoming Community

Seated at one of the blue tables in the tent reserved for Marymount College alumnae was Teresita Abay-Krueger, MC ’80, who studied biology and chemistry and went on to work at IBM. For several years, she served on the Marymount alumnae board.

“Fordham has been a very welcoming community to the Marymount alumnae … You’ve really been cheerleaders for [our]  legacy in many respects. And we not only appreciate it, but we respect that,” she said.

“It’s just been a natural melding of the two communities. And what better place to have it than Homecoming, where we get to celebrate a nice football game on a beautiful campus with plenty to eat and drink?”

A Bond Among Jesuit Schools

The event also drew families for whom loyalties between the Rams and the Crusaders were split. Bob and Rose Shea, natives of West Hartford, Connecticut, who graduated from the College of Holy Cross in 1985 and 1986, respectively, were sporting dark purple garb, while their daughter Fiona Shea, FCRH ’19, wore a hat that said simply, “Bronx.” Rose said they love the camaraderie between alumni of Jesuit schools. She’s also confessed to being obsessed with New York Botanical Garden, and noted that they became members during Fiona’s freshman year. Arthur Avenue is a must-stop for them every time they visit.

“Being from Connecticut, we’re more familiar with Boston, and of course we’re familiar with New York, but having Fiona here, it opened a whole new world to us,” she said.

A Time for Families

Multiple generations of Rams took part in the day’s festivities. Lynn and Ryan Flaherty, both FCRH ’00, watched their children Nolan, 9, Reagan, 7, and Ainsley, 5, take their turns on the bouncy castles; they said there was never a question that they’d make the drive from Amityville, New York, for the day.

“We love bringing the kids here, and showing them where mom and dad went to school,” said Lynn. “They really do try to do something for the kids. Ryan’s parents join us, so we make it a big family thing.”

Jerry Breslin, FCRH ’59, likewise said he treasured the memories of his time on campus. He started returning after his son, John, graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 1991. When he was an undergraduate, he said, he befriended the priest who was then the dean of men, and the priest officiated at Breslin’s wedding. Most of his former classmates had good friends who were Jesuits, he said.

“In the springtime, after dinner we’d come out and play softball. There’d be a hundred Jesuits standing around, watching the game. You’d make an error or something, and they’d yell, ‘Breslin, you’re just as bad at softball as you are in the classroom,’” he said, laughing.

Chris Healy, on the other hand, never graduated from Fordham, but nonetheless feels at home at Rose Hill. He’s been coming here since he was seven, when his father, Richard Healy, FCRH ’50 and uncle, Stan Bloomer, FCRH, ’50, brought him to his first homecoming.

“My family has such a history here,” said Healy, wearing a Fordham jacket more than three decades old. “To me, it’s tradition and history that embellishes this University.”

His daughter, Brittany Healy, GABELLI ’17, was celebrating in the main tent, too. Growing up, she and her two older brothers frequently watched football games at the Rose Hill campus. Years later, she majored in business administration and marketing at Fordham—just like her grandfather.

“My friends and I always talk about how Fordham is really like no other place on the planet,” said Healy, who is now an account executive at a public relations agency. “The community feel and the love that we have at this college is just different than anywhere else.”

For self-proclaimed “Fordham fanatic” Maggie Wimmer, FCRH ’16, this year’s homecoming had extra resonance.

“I love coming to homecoming. Whenever I get the chance to come back, I really enjoy it. And now that he’s in the program, it’s even more of a reason,” she said, motioning to her boyfriend, Matthew Glaser, a Ph.D. student in philosophy at Fordham.

“I haven’t even been to my undergraduate homecoming before, so this is a new experience for me,” said Glaser, who lives near Arthur Avenue.

Wimmer said she loves running into people she knew at Fordham, even if they were just acquaintances at the time.

“When you see them, it’s so exciting to relive those memories. It’s like you all have something to come back to,” said Wimmer, who majored in psychology at Fordham and now works in public health outreach at Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

“When we were graduating and Father McShane said, ‘This is your home, stay long and visit often’—you just connect with that, because when you walk on campus, it feels like home, like a breath of fresh air.”

View more photos from Homecoming.

Taylor Ha, Kelly Kultys, and Nicole LaRosa contributed reporting.

“One of the things that Fordham does well is manage a constant flow of new talent onto the Board of Trustees,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University. “The board’s diversity of expertise and points of view enables us to respond to strategic opportunities and challenges in a timely and effective way. I am deeply grateful to our board members—ably led by Bob Daleo—for their generosity and dedication to Fordham.”

Some of the trustees, like financial services executive James Rowen, practically grew up on Fordham’s campus, beginning with Fordham Prep. Others have ties that bind to family, like attorney Maryanne Lavan, who has honored the memory of her late brother, a Fordham graduate, with an endowed scholarship. For others, the Fordham mission is a mission shared with family. Real estate executive Jorge B. San Miguel started his term as a trustee just a month after his brother, Luis E. San Miguel, completed his service on the Fordham board.

 The new trustees will bring both arts and science perspectives in addition to their primary expertise. Investor James Buckman is a former board member of the New York Philharmonic, and Gregory C. Chisholm, S.J., a Harlem pastor, holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT.

Most bring perspectives on contemporary civic issues and ethics from a variety of fields. Insurance executive John Lumelleau is a champion of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City. Andrew Hinton served as a federal prosecutor focusing on white-collar crime. Anthony Carter is a nationally recognized expert on diversity and inclusion. And Michael Dowling’s rise from hardscrabble Irish immigrant to leader of New York’s largest system of hospitals and long-term care providers reflects that of Fordham’s own Irish-immigrant founder, Archbishop John Hughes.

Here, in brief, are their biographies:

James E. Buckman, FCRH ’66, PAR ’05
Buckman is the retired vice chairman of York Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund firm with approximately $14 billion under management. Currently a private investor, Buckman had a long career as a corporate general counsel, much of which he spent in the hospitality industry, particularly with the Cendant Corporation. After Cendant’s dissolution, he became a board member of the Wyndham Destinations, Inc., one of Cendant’s spinoff companies, and continues to serve as director of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Inc. Earlier in his life he served as a first lieutenant in the Connecticut Air National Guard, the Georgia Air National Guard, and the United States Air Force Reserve. He is also a former board member of the New York Philharmonic, where he and his wife, Nancy, have endowed a chair in the orchestra for a cellist. He is a trustee of Fordham Preparatory School, where he is also a member of the Hall of Honor. At Fordham, the Buckmans have an endowed a chair in the theology department—the James and Nancy Buckman Applied Chair in Christian Ethics—and the James and Nancy Buckman Endowed Scholarship. Buckman co-chaired the University’s Excelsior Campaign and in 2009 received the Fordham Founder’s Award. The Buckmans have three daughters, Elizabeth, Anne, LAW ’05, and Julia.

Anthony P. Carter, FCRH ’76, PAR ’15
In 2015, Carter retired as vice president, Global Diversity & Inclusion, and chief diversity officer for Johnson & Johnson. Under his leadership, the company was consistently named one of the top 10 among the 50 best American companies for diversity by DiversityInc magazine, earning the number one position in 2009. Carter has been recognized by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the top chief diversity officers in America.  At Fordham, Carter served as chair of the University’s search committee for a chief diversity officer, was a member of the University’s Diversity Task Force, and was Fordham’s executive champion while he was at Johnson & Johnson. In May of 2017, Carter was the speaker for the Gabelli School of Business diploma ceremony and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Fordham. He also served on the University’s President’s Council and supports Fordham’s CSTEP program. Carter grew up in the South Bronx in a family of 10 children whose parents died when he was young. He and his wife, Wendy, have three children, Austin, Ashley, and Dayne, FCRH ’15.

Gregory C. Chisholm, S.J.
Father Chisholm is currently pastor of the Parish of St. Charles Borromeo, Resurrection and All Saints in Harlem.  He is also dean of the Central Harlem region of Roman Catholic parishes. He joined the New England Province of the Jesuits in 1980 and was ordained a priest in 1993; he now belongs to the USA Northeast Province of the Jesuits. Father Chisholm received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and taught mechanical engineering at the University of Detroit Mercy.  Since 1998 he has been in full-time parish ministry in Los Angeles and New York City, serving largely African-American and Latino communities. He has served on the governing boards of several universities as well as Cristo Rey New York High School. He currently is on the board of Xavier High School. Father Chisholm grew up in Harlem, where his family attended St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church. He attended Catholic schools in Harlem and the Bronx.

Michael Dowling, GSS ’74
Dowling is president and CEO of Northwell Health, the largest system of hospitals and long-term care providers in New York and the largest private employer in New York state. Dowling was instrumental in the merger of North Shore and Long Island Jewish hospitals. Before joining Northwell Health in 1995, he was a senior vice president at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Dowling also served in New York State government for 12 years, seven of which were spent as state director of Health, Education and Human Services and deputy secretary to the governor. He was also commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services. Before his work in public service, Dowling was a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Fordham Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) and director of the Fordham campus in Westchester County. In May of 2017, he received a doctor of humane letters and spoke at the GSS diploma ceremony. Dowling is the oldest of five children; he grew up in a home in Limerick, Ireland, without electricity, running water, bathrooms, or heat—but, he says, his family always had plenty of books. He and his wife, Kathy, have two children, Brian and Elizabeth.

Andrew J. Hinton, LAW ’89
Hinton currently serves as vice president of global ethics and compliance at Google, where he spearheads efforts to identify and mitigate compliance risk and expand upon the company’s core values. He joined Google in 2006. After receiving his J.D. in 1989 from Fordham Law, where he was a member of Fordham Law Review, Hinton worked as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York, with concentration on commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense. He went on to work at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York as a federal prosecutor, focusing on white-collar crime. He serves on the Ethics Research Center Board of Directors and has lectured at the Compliance & Ethics Institute. Hinton has remained connected to Fordham Law, serving on the Class of 1989’s 25th Reunion committee in 2014. He lives in Palo Alto, California, with his wife, Joy, and their two children, Sarah and Eric.

Maryanne Lavan
Lavan is senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary at Lockheed Martin Corporation. She joined Lockheed Martin in 1990 as an attorney and served in increasingly senior positions within the legal department. The company’s first female general counsel, she is responsible for managing the corporation’s legal affairs and law department. Lavan became involved with Fordham University after her youngest brother, Matthew Lavan, FCRH ’98, passed away in 2003. She supports the Matthew J. Lavan Endowed Scholarship at Fordham, established by Matthew’s classmate, and has given generously to the Global Outreach Program at Rose Hill, which Matthew participated in as a student. In September 2014, Lavan joined the President’s Council Executive Committee. Several members of her family are Fordham graduates, including her father, Thomas Lavan, UGE ’57, and late mother, Ann Lavan, UGE ’54, who met at Fordham. She and her husband, Larry Harris, have two children, Mikayla and Zachary.

John Lumelleau, FCRH ’74
In 2017, Lumelleau retired as the president and CEO of Lockton, the world’s largest privately held independent insurance broker. Under his leadership, the Lockton team grew to become a global organization with more than with 85 offices worldwide and more than $1.4 billion in fiscal revenue in 2017. He now serves as an adviser to the board. Lumelleau has been a supporter of Fordham Athletics programs for many years. In recognition of his consistent support of the Fordham Football program, Lumelleau, a former player at Fordham, was honored with the Walsh Award in September 2015. Lumelleau joined the Executive Committee of the Fordham President’s Council in August 2015. Outside of Fordham he has long been involved in civic issues, serving previously on the Board of Directors of the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers; the Board of Overseers of the St. John’s University School of Risk Management & Actuarial Sciences; and as an ambassador for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City, an organization he supports together with his wife, Loretta. The Lumelleaus have three children, Ryan, Matthew, and Anne.

James S. Rowen, FCRH ’86, GABELLI ’98
Rowen is the chief operating officer at Renaissance Technologies, LLC, a New York-based registered investment adviser. His career spans 25 years in the financial services, including the equity derivatives, prime brokerage, and structured finance businesses. Rowen holds positions on the Founders Council at the Managed Funds Association, where he previously served as vice chairman. Before Renaissance, he was the chief financial officer of hedge fund firm SAC Capital Advisors LLC. Prior to that he was responsible for Deutsche Bank’s Global Equity Finance and Prime Brokerage business. In addition to his two degrees from Fordham University, Rowen is a 1982 graduate of Fordham Preparatory School and has served as chairman of that school’s board. He has also served as a member of the Fordham College at Rose Hill Alumni Board. He and his wife, Diane, have two children, James and Kaitlin.

Jorge B. San Miguel, GABELLI ’82
San Miguel is the president of the San Miguel Foundation, where he is responsible for fundraising, investment, and portfolio management at the family foundation. During his thirty-year career, San Miguel served as executive vice president and chief information officer of Florida East Coast Industries and as chief financial officer of Codina Group, Inc., a South Florida based real estate development company. Prior to that, San Miguel worked at Ernst & Young, where he developed a Latin America mergers and acquisitions group. San Miguel resides in Key Biscayne, Florida. He currently serves as treasurer of Miramar United Elite FC youth soccer academy and coaches both soccer and football at his high school alma mater, Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami.