“When you’re out in the busy world, please be proud of Fordham, tell the Fordham story,” Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University, told attendees. “What is the Fordham story? It’s your story, a story of the friendships you’ve made, the transformational nature of the education you received, and the great sense of community that was nurtured among you.”

That sense of community was on display across all of the Block Party events. From the separate cocktail receptions for five Lincoln Center-based schools to the open-air dance party uniting everyone on the plaza, alumni enjoyed the chance to recognize influential grads, faculty, and staff, and reconnect in person after last year’s virtual celebration.

For William Greene, a three-time Fordham graduate, this year’s Block Party was a chance to celebrate his many ties to the University. After graduating from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 1961, he earned a Fordham Law degree in 1965. Two decades later, he enrolled at the Gabelli School of Business, earning an M.B.A. in 1987.

“I always got more than my money’s worth at Fordham,” he said with a laugh. “I seemed compatible with the people—or at least they found me acceptable over a long period of time.”

Greene said that he practiced law for a number of years and served as executive director of the New York County Lawyers Association before deciding to make a career change. Earning a Fordham business degree, he said, helped him launch a career as a consultant.

Two Fordham undergraduates—saxophonist Will Harvey and pianist Miguel Sutedjo, who has written classical, jazz, and musical theater pieces for both Fordham and as part of the Juilliard Evening Division program—kicked off the festivities with a musical performance in Pope Auditorium.

Each of the five schools—Fordham College at Lincoln Center, the Graduate School of Social Service, the Graduate School of Education, the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, and the Gabelli School of Business—held receptions where alumni, faculty, and administrators mingled. (Fordham Law School, also based at Lincoln Center, held its annual alumni reunion in April, and the Fordham Law Alumni Association hosted its annual luncheon on June 2.)

Other groups, such as The Observer—the award-winning student newspaper at Lincoln Center—and Psi Chi, the Lincoln Center psychology association, held their own alumni gatherings. Psi Chi honored John C. Hollwitz, Ph.D., professor of psychology and rhetoric at Fordham, and Leonard Davidman, Ph.D., GSE ’82, with its 2022 Psi Chi Outstanding Achievement medals. Earlier this year, Davidman, a licensed psychologist and longtime president of the labor union that represents New York City’s public sector psychologists and mental health counselors, was honored by Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine for his contributions to the city.

Honoring Lincoln Center’s First ‘Golden Rams’

When Pat Friel started at Fordham College at Lincoln Center in fall 1968, the Lowenstein Center was still under construction. She and her classmates took their first classes in the old Fordham Law building at 140 West 62nd Street, which was completely renovated after the new Fordham Law building opened in 2014.

“It’s amazing to come back and see all the new renovations and even just floor by floor [in the Lowenstein Center], it’s just amazing. It really is beautiful,” said Friel, who graduated in 1972.

Friel and other members of the Fordham College at Lincoln Center Class of 1972 celebrated the 50th anniversary of their graduation, making them the school’s first-ever Golden Rams.

Friel said coming back and seeing the school in its current form, with two residence halls, additional classroom space, and a growing undergraduate population, makes her feel like the school has lived up to its initial goals.

“When we started, [there were] only 300 of us, and the idea behind the school was that it was supposed to represent the city,” she said. “It was supposed to be very diverse. … It was trying to be very reflective of the city. I am truly very glad that it became what it tried to be, and it continues to get better and progress.”

One of the people responsible for that progress was honored in a special ceremony at the reunion. Robert R. Grimes, S.J., FCRH ’75, dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center from 1997 to 2018, was recognized for his two decades of “leadership of and commitment to” the FCLC community. A conference room in the dean’s office suite will be named in his honor.

Block Party was a fitting place to honor Father Grimes, who helped inaugurate the alumni tradition in June 2001, when he worked with the alumni relations office to host a cocktail reception on the plaza.

“Graduates of every year of the college’s existence attended the event,” Father Grimes wrote in A History of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, a booklet he published in 2018 to mark the college’s 50th anniversary, “but unlike so many college reunions, large numbers of faculty also attended, renewing relationships forged in the classrooms of Lowenstein.”

In presenting Father Grimes with a framed version of the plaque that will be installed outside the conference room, Father McShane noted that the official date of the dedication is July 31—the feast day of St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus—calling it “a day on which Jesuits tend to celebrate real greatness.”

Elizabeth “Betty” Burns, FCLC ’83, a retired senior vice president of Capital Guardian and a Fordham University trustee fellow, credited her professors for helping her stay on track to graduate. At the time, she was working full days in the GM Building and attending school at night.

“One year I said I needed a semester off, and Clive Daniel, God rest his soul, said ‘Oh, no no no, you want to take one class; you can’t quit. If you take a semester off, we’ll never see you again,’” she recalled. She took her economics professor’s advice and earned her Fordham degree in 1983. “It’s just all the people at Fordham—they were just a part of this group that provided such camaraderie and such support.”

While some graduates were celebrating big milestone anniversaries, Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., was marking her first in-person Block Party as dean of the college. She took the time to thank and recognize Mark Botton, Ph.D., a professor of biology and co-director of the environmental science program, who retired this year.

“We’re inaugurating yet another new tradition—honoring retiring faculty at Block Party,” she said.

Auricchio said that Botton, internationally regarded as an expert on horseshoe crabs, has published numerous scientific papers and helped policymakers and scientists protect the vulnerable arthropods and their habitats. In 2019, he even had a horseshoe crab fossil named after him.

“Most impressively to me, at least, is that many of his articles were published in collaboration with FCLC student co-authors,” Auricchio said to a room full of cheers.

At Gabelli School Reception, Honoring a ‘True Ph.D.’

Block Party also gave alumni an opportunity to thank two cornerstones of Fordham: Father McShane, who is stepping down as president at the end of the month, and Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., GABELLI ’83, who served as dean of the Gabelli School of Business for the past 15 years.

“Donna is a true Ph.D.—and not because she [earned a doctorate in] accounting at NYU,” said Mario Gabelli, a 1965 graduate of the Fordham business school that now bears his name. “The reason is that she is what I call passionate, hungry, and driven—Ph.D.”

Gabelli said that Rapaccioli has been a true changemaker for students at the University, and now, as she steps back into teaching and research, students are going to “have to be summa cum laude to get into her class.”

“Donna, without you, we wouldn’t be here today,” he said.

In 2007, Rapaccioli was named dean of what was then the undergraduate College of Business Administration. During her tenure, Gabelli and his wife, Regina Pitaro, FCRH ’76, made two historic donations to the school—$25 million in 2010 and $35 million in 2020—giving the Gabelli School of Business its name and providing long-term support for academic programs, faculty research, scholarships, teaching excellence, and more.

In 2015, Rapaccioli led the unification of the University’s undergraduate and graduate business schools, one year after launching the school’s first B.S. program at the Lincoln Center campus. She later launched Gabelli’s first doctoral programs, and oversaw significant growth in enrollments and rises in rankings at the school.

“From that day, both the undergraduate and graduate divisions of what is now called the Gabelli School of Business—they took off,” Father McShane said. “There was a greater sense of purposeful education, of a purpose-driven career in business. She was adamant that a Fordham education was not going to be like any other business education. … She wanted men and women whose lives were marked by character. They had to be men and women of integrity.”

Gabelli thanked both Rapaccioli and Father McShane for their leadership at Fordham.

“Thank you for all you’ve done, and congratulations to both of you for your leadership, your wisdom,” he said. “Thank you [for helping] us motivate the next generation that’s here tonight.”

Recognizing Educators

This Block Party marked the first for José Luis Alvarado, Ph.D., who joined the Graduate School of Education as dean in July 2021. He presented GSE’s Lifetime Achievement Award to Aramina Vega Ferrer, Ph.D., GSE ’09, a member of the 12th Judicial District of the New York State Board of Regents.

“I can’t tell you how excited and honored I am to receive this award,” said Ferrer, who came to New York from Puerto Rico as a child. “Fordham has played a pivotal role in fulfilling the vision my parents held for me, my brother, and my sisters when we took that plane in 1952. They knew they had to seek to educate us in institutions that shared their values and religious beliefs.”

Ferrer, who spent more than three decades as an educator and educational leader before being elected to the Board of Regents in April, not only reflected on her family’s history but also looked to its future—and what education continues to mean to them.

“My three amazing grandsons are living proof that the richness of literacy and culture is transmitted across generations,” she told the attendees.

After Ferrer accepted her award, Father McShane spoke to the group of graduates, telling them, “You teach not only the skills that are necessary for students to succeed in life; you also teach values. … You spend your lives serving others. We cannot praise you enough. For me, you’re saints. You answer affirmatively to God’s invitation to help him build the human family up.”

GSS Introduces Alumni Awards

At the Graduate School of Social Service reception, Cassandra Agredo, GSS ’06, received the GSS Alumni Award, which “honors an individual who embodies professional social work values and meaningfully impacts the individuals and communities they serve.” Agredo is the executive director of Xavier Mission, which provides basic services as well as opportunities for empowerment and self-sufficiency to New Yorkers in need.

Mary Brennan, GSS ’83, received the GSS Alumni Service Award, which honors “an individual who is dedicated in their support of the Graduate School of Social Service and its mission.” Brennan is a social worker at 1st Cerebral Palsy of NJ, whose mission is to assist all students with special needs to lead more active and productive lives, and she has been a generous supporter of GSS.

Alumni from the classes of 1972 and 1997, who were celebrating their 50th and 25th anniversaries, respectively, also received special recognition at the event.

The Observer Launches New Prize

At a reception in Platt Atrium, Elizabeth Stone, Ph.D., professor of English and former adviser to The Observer, announced the creation of the Many Voices Prize, which will provide financial assistance to students from underrepresented backgrounds who contribute to the award-winning student paper.

“A couple of years ago, I noticed the editorial board [of The Observer] posted a notice saying that they were aware that as an organization, they didn’t have the diversity on staff they wished they could have,” she said. “That spoke to me, and it germinated in me the idea of wanting to do something to get historically underrepresented groups to the table.”

Stone said she hopes the prize will help more students find their calling as journalists.

“Right now, democracy is in big trouble, a trouble due to too many lies and too much silence, because not everyone who should be at the table is at the table,” she said. “And I believe journalism can help. To survive, we need robust conversation with many voices, at Lincoln Center and the world.”

Celebrating After Being Apart

The return of Block Party, which concluded with a night of dancing and celebrating out on the plaza, also gave more recent graduates a chance to reconnect with each other and their school. Some alumni said the pandemic helped them put their education and lessons learned at Fordham into practice.

Dan Nasta, FCLC ’19, said that he appreciated the liberal arts background that Fordham gave him as he navigated pandemic life.

“I just think a lot of what we encountered in the past two years with the pandemic was just empathy for other people and a willingness to put others before yourself,” he said. “I feel like I’m happy with how I’ve lived the past two years. I don’t have any regrets from a moral perspective, because Fordham gave me the ability to understand my actions and my responsibility for them and my connectedness to them as a part of the community.”

Chloe Djomessi Saikam, FCLC ’21, a former anthropology and music major, works as a UX designer, a role that helps create websites and products after considering how they will function and feel to those using them. She said that she tries to bring to her work the values and teachings of her liberal arts education.

“A lot of the concepts I learned about anthropology and music theory directly translate into design thinking—testing our own biases, really trying to understand people. and really just capturing the nuance, which is big in anthropology, and also big in UX,” Saikam said.

 Additional reporting from Adam Kaufman and Connor White. 

“It was like a monastery,” Connolly joked. “It was very different from today. At the time, it was a mostly commuter school and it was still all male”—women didn’t arrive in a big way until his senior year, with the fall 1964 opening of Fordham’s Thomas More College for women.

From the start, Connolly and his classmates were determined to enliven the atmosphere. He and Donald Ross, FCRH ’65, his lifelong friend from the Bronx, began organizing concerts on the weekends. They booked popular performers of the day, including Ray Charles, the Clancy Brothers, the Kingston Trio, and Peter, Paul, and Mary.

The concerts were a big hit in the community, and they became a profitable business venture for the Class of 1965.

Next, Connolly and his friends tackled the matter of football. The sport had a rich history at Fordham but had been discontinued due to financial concerns in 1954. So the students spearheaded a campaign to bring it back. They enlisted the support of Fordham College Dean George McMahon, S.J., who in September 1964 helped win the University leadership’s approval to restart the sport.

‘The Campus Was Abuzz’

David Langdon, FCRH ’65, volunteered to serve as coach, and the students quickly set to work building the team. They hosted tryouts and pooled their own money, including funds raised from the concerts, to purchase uniforms, equipment, and insurance.

On November 7, 1964, Fordham’s newly formed club football team beat New York University, 20-14, before a crowd of 13,200 fans at Coffey Field. Jim Lansing, FCRH ’43, the former All-American at Fordham and owner of a local sporting goods store, was soon after hired as coach, and three years later, Fordham boasted the top club team in the country. By 1970, football was a varsity sport at Fordham once again.

“It was a heavenly moment. The campus was abuzz,” Connolly said of the 1964 victory against NYU.

He and his friends found other ways to perk up the local social scene while honing their entrepreneurial skills. For example, he and Ross partnered with their fellow Fordham Prep grad Mario Gabelli, a 1965 graduate of the Fordham business school that now bears his name, to form JMD Enterprises, a company they established to host dances off campus. Connolly said the undertaking was a great success and that the money he earned from the venture made it possible for him to spend a summer in Europe—a journey that turned out to be life-changing.

“I decided that I was definitely going to apply to go to Oxford after college and, at the end of those two years at Oxford, I met the woman who became my wife,” he said. “So I’m grateful to Mario because he was the business genius among us!”

A Tribute to Three ‘Brilliant’ Fordham Mentors

As an undergraduate, Connolly was devoted to the campus community in many ways—through his roles on student government, as an athlete on the tennis team, and as a member the Fordham Glee Club. He was also a dedicated student, building the pillars for his future career in academia.

Though he was an English major, Connolly gravitated toward philosophy and medieval history, areas he later specialized in as a professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, where he taught and served as an administrator for more than 40 years.

So influential were his Fordham professors in inspiring his interest in the Middle Ages that he dedicated his 2014 book, Living Without Why: Meister Eckhart’s Critique of the Medieval Concept of Will (Oxford University Press), to three of them.

“Norris Clarke, S.J., Robert O’Connell, S.J.—both philosophers—and Jeremiah O’Sullivan, a medieval historian, were among my very best teachers ever,” he said. “They were brilliant lecturers, and expert at engaging our interest in their respective and fascinating subject matters.”

Connolly said he knew nothing about the Middle Ages before taking O’Sullivan’s course as a sophomore, and he was “hooked” in the first half hour. He still has his notes from that class.

“Meister Eckhart said in one of his sermons: If the only prayer you ever said was ‘thank you,’ it would suffice. I inscribed it on the same page as my dedication in the book.”

After graduating from Fordham summa cum laude, Connolly earned a master’s in philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University. While living abroad, he traveled around Europe and met his wife, Marianna, while visiting Maria Laach Abbey in Germany. They eventually had their wedding there, and made their home in Massachusetts. The couple have two children and three grandchildren.

Connolly also pursued graduate studies at Princeton University and earned a doctorate at Harvard University. In addition to teaching at Smith, he served as the college’s first provost and dean of faculty, and as acting president during the 2001–2002 academic year. He returned to full-time teaching as the Sophia Smith Professor of Philosophy before he retired in 2014.

Connolly has kept in touch with many of his friends from Fordham and looks forward to reminiscing about the good times they shared together at the upcoming Jubilee weekend, June 3 to 5. It will be the eighth or ninth Fordham Jubilee he has attended—he’s stopped counting—and he encourages his classmates and other Golden Rams to join the celebration. “I think we had quite an extraordinary class,” he said. “Don’t waste an opportunity. It’s a very special experience.”

Among the festivities, Connolly is eager to attend Friday night’s dinner and breakfast on Saturday, and to hear from Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, whose Jubilee welcome address Connolly expects will be a “valedictory” of sorts. Connolly’s also looking forward to hearing more about Fordham’s future with Tania Tetlow, whose tenure as president begins on July 1.

“[Father McShane is] finishing his 19 years, and he’s had a great run. I’m looking forward to hearing his point of view [about the University’s future]. With the first woman president—and first layperson—this is a very exciting time for Fordham.”

Fordham Five (Plus One)

What are you most passionate about?
I am most passionate about race, racism, and the Civil War in this country that never ended.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
I’m going to appeal to 14th-century philosopher Meister Eckhart. He told his listeners to live without “why.” Do the good, but don’t do it in order to be rewarded in any way. That’s the merchant mentality. You do something good in the hope of being rewarded and in particular, being rewarded by God, by getting to heaven or something. He said that’s the wrong attitude. The right way to do it is to do the right thing because it’s right. My book is built around that. It’s called Living Without Why: Meister Eckhart’s Critique of the Medieval Concept of Will.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
I think it has to be either the Rose Hill campus or the Cloisters. My favorite place in the world is home.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you, and tell us why.
I have probably read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings five times. It has this medieval flavor to it though it’s not set in the Middle Ages. He’s a masterful narrator and gives such loving attention to the natural world. There is something profound in the story about our inability as human beings to firmly establish a just society. The central character says, “Sometimes some people have to give things up so that others can live in peace.” That sums up a lot of what’s going on in the book, which is this heroic, epic quest.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?
That’s impossible to answer! There are so many. Certainly my classmates Donald Ross, David Langdon, and Peter Carter. My professors, philosophers Norris Clarke, S.J., Robert O’Connell, S.J., and medieval historian Jeremiah O’Sullivan. George McMahon, S.J., who was the dean in my last three years at the college, also had a major impact on my life, along with Father [Vincent] O’Keefe, S.J. who became president at the start of our junior year.

What are you optimistic about?
That’s a hard one, at this moment with COVID and the incredible Ukraine disaster. I like to believe, along with Martin Luther King Jr., that the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. Right at the moment, it doesn’t look like it’s doing that. But I suppose I’m taking the longer view and I would say sooner or later, we’ll regain our sanity as a nation. That’s my hope, anyway.

Interview conducted, edited, and condensed by Claire Curry.

After virtual gatherings in 2020 and 2021, Jubilee 2022 will be held in person on the Rose Hill campus from June 3 to 5. The alumni relations office anticipates welcoming its largest group of Jubilarians ever. Learn more and register today.

Gabelli, a philanthropist, investor, and Chairman and CEO of GAMCO Investors, Inc., returned to his alma mater to provide some inspiration for the new students as they begin their time at Fordham.

“I couldn’t be more excited to talk to you today; this is an exciting time in our lives,” said Gabelli to more than 500 students in the Fordham Prep auditorium at the Rose Hill campus. He noted that although the pandemic has created a difficult landscape, it has also provided valuable opportunities.

“You want to be learning how to create options for yourself in a time of uncertainty—it’s not as bad as last year—but really it’s a terrific time to learn.”

A native of the Bronx, Gabelli went from caddying at a local golf course and investing in stocks from the age of 13 to earning his bachelor’s at Fordham and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School in 1967. After working on Wall Street as an analyst for a few years, Gabelli launched his own firm in 1976, GAMCO Investors, which now manages more than $40 billion in assets. In addition to investing, Gabelli, a member of Fordham’s President Council, is passionate about supporting education; he often comes back to Fordham to talk with students and share his experience.

‘The 11th Commandment’

Gabelli emphasized that students should always keep in mind his “11th Commandment”—“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”

He told a story about visiting an auto parts company in Toronto right after he launched his own firm. He was quizzing the head of the company to learn more about his current situation—what needs he might have, what challenges the industry was facing, etc. After about 30 minutes, the man turned to Gabelli and said, “Mario, I can’t answer any more questions about the Canadian auto market.”

Gabelli then turned to leave. But the man stopped him and said, “You forgot to ask [for the order].” He proceeded to write Gabelli a check and became his first client.

People often have innovative ideas or the motivation to get that next job, Gabelli said, but if they don’t ask for it, they don’t get it.

Pushing Yourself

Gabelli encouraged the students to push themselves to work harder than others and create options and flexibility for themselves.

“You want to have options—you want to do what you want to do, you don’t want to do what somebody else wants you to do,” he said.

He encouraged the students to “increase their flexibility” and to expand their abilities. He told them that they were all “Ph.D.s” already—passionate, hungry, and driven.

Looking to the Future

Gabelli said his company recently launched a new fund called Love Our Planet and People, based on the principles of ESG—environmental social governance, which evaluates a firm’s collective conscientiousness for social and environmental factors.

“Love Our Planet and People will reflect our mandate to invest in companies committed to sustainable practices such as renewable energy and the reduction or recycling of long-lived wastes such as plastics,” a statement about the fund reads.

One of the areas he said they were exploring is rechargeable car batteries for electric vehicles and how to make them better.

“This year we’re talking about batteries—how do you create batteries? How do you recycle batteries? How do you have storage, power, electricity? How do you do that in the car so that you can get it charged in 15 minutes?”

Gabelli School of Business Dean Donna Rapaccioli said it’s this kind of research and questioning that made Gabelli so successful.

“His defiance of conventional investing wisdom and this meticulous research on companies with high cash flow and no competition led to exponential growth,” she said.

‘Integrity, Integrity, Integrity’

When asked for the top three things students should learn during their time at the Gabelli School, Gabelli said, “integrity, integrity, integrity.”

“Your word is so important,” he said. “The notion of learning not only business principles, learning also a common sense of what morality is and what’s right.”

This message resonated with first-year Gabelli School at Lincoln Center student Mashu Nishi.

“I liked how he talked about integrity,” he said. “It’s something that’s been stressed my whole life and to go as a freshman into a school that stresses that so much—it’s comforting.”

Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill senior Eva Li, who interviewed Gabelli as a part of the talk, had her own advice to give. She said that she was grateful for events like these and clubs that allowed for networking, since that’s how she got some of her internships, which included Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.

“This is advice I give to all freshmen—I joined clubs on campus and through these clubs, I networked with an alumni professional who came back to Fordham to speak,” said Li, a finance major. “From there, I expanded my network and applied [for an internship].”

“[A]fter a great deal of prayer, reflection, and consultation, I have decided that this will be my last year as President of our beloved University,” Father McShane wrote yesterday in a message to the Fordham family.

“It has been a blessing to work with so many talented and devoted faculty and staff, and with more than a hundred thousand gifted and community-minded students,” he added. “Likewise, I have had the great fortune of working with and on behalf of our many generous and involved alumni and donors, and with the members of our Board of Trustees, especially the Board Chairs with whom I have worked: Paul Guenther, John Tognino and Bob Daleo. Together they have been the engines of Fordham’s success, over which it has been my great joy to preside.”

Father McShane succeeded Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., on July 1, 2003, to become the 32nd president of Fordham. By next June, he will have served 19 years in the position, matching his predecessor’s record as the University’s longest-serving president.

Under Father McShane, Fordham completed a decades-long transformation from well-regarded regional institution to prestigious national university—growing larger, academically and fiscally stronger, and more diverse than ever.

Since 2003, Father McShane has raised $1 billion for the University, overseen the quadrupling of its endowment to more than $1 billion, and invested $1 billion in new construction and infrastructure improvements.

His tenure has also been marked by record-breaking advances in enrollment; campus expansions in New York and London; innovative new academic programs and partnerships; increased support for student-faculty collaboration and research; a renewed commitment to community engagement; and a burgeoning global alumni network—all of which have helped lift Fordham to new levels of national and international distinction and influence.

“The Board of Trustees and the Fordham community have watched with admiration Father McShane’s unbridled energy, pastoral care, long devotion, and deep wisdom,” Robert D. Daleo, GABELLI ’72, chair of the Fordham University Board of Trustees, wrote today in a letter to the Fordham community. “We are deeply grateful for all he has done for the University and its students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents.”

Daleo said the University will work with global executive search firm WittKieffer and establish a search committee composed of trustees, faculty, staff, and students to identify the next president of Fordham. WittKieffer will hold a series of virtual town halls this fall to solicit input from the Fordham community, he said. And he expects the board to announce the new president next spring. (More information about the transition is posted at fordham.edu/presidentialsearch.)

In the meantime, the University will have the opportunity to “celebrate Father McShane and his many accomplishments throughout the year,” Daleo wrote.

“His leadership has set the stage for the next president to continue Fordham’s growth and prominence.”

A Leader of Character

Throughout his tenure as president, Father McShane has described a Fordham education as “ever ancient, ever new,” borrowing a phrase from St. Augustine.

“We are ever searching for greater opportunities for service that the signs of the times reveal to us and demand of us,” he said during his inaugural address in the Rose Hill Gymnasium on October 24, 2003. And yet a Fordham education is timeless, he said, and fundamentally about character development—supporting, challenging, and empowering students to become global citizens whose lives are marked by “competence, conscience, compassion, and commitment to the cause of the human family.”

When historians of Fordham look back on the McShane era, they will undoubtedly note a host of key indicators of growth and success at the University (see the list below), but just as impressive, trustees and others in higher education say, is Father McShane’s influence as a leader of character—someone who is quick-witted, morally focused, and personally humble but bold and full of ambition for Fordham.

“Father McShane has been an incredible leader, and Fordham has become a new and better institution under his leadership,” said Fordham Trustee Valerie Rainford, FCRH ’86. “He leaves a legacy of excellence, integrity, and perseverance not just with the Fordham family but with the broader community, all guided by his faith and an unwavering commitment to helping his fellow man and woman achieve their God-given gifts. He is a giant in academia who leaves behind big shoes to fill.”

In his message to the Fordham family, Father McShane deflected any praise for what the University has achieved.

“I have utterly no illusions about how all of this was accomplished and what my role has been. I believe (actually I know) that all that has been accomplished at Fordham in the course of the past eighteen years is not the result of my work,” he wrote. “Rather, it has been the result of uncommon teamwork, a shared dream and a deep devotion to the values that Fordham has always stood for and from which it has derived its strength.”

Beyond Fordham, Father McShane is widely regarded as an eloquent, tireless advocate for Jesuit education and for improving college access overall. He has served on the boards of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), several Jesuit institutions, and the American Council on Education.

“For more than his 25 years at Fordham, Father McShane has been an important voice for Catholic higher education, for Jesuit universities, and, indeed, for the importance of public and private support for education of all citizens, especially the marginalized and those who have been deprived of this critical opportunity,” said AJCU President Michael J. Garanzini, S.J. “His energy and enthusiasm have inspired many of us to advocate for the promotion of access and inclusion in private and public education alike.”

By the Numbers: A Legacy of Transformation

Here are 10 key indicators of growth and success at Fordham under Father McShane’s leadership.

• Enrollment and Diversity: Applications for undergraduate admission have more than tripled, from 12,801 in 2003 to 46,171 this year. And the percentage of undergraduate students from underrepresented groups has increased from 23% in 2003 to 33% this year. The undergraduate Class of 2025, drawn from 45 U.S. states and 51 countries, is the most diverse in Fordham’s history, with 44.5% domestic students of color and 6.5% international students.

  

• Social Mobility: The Chronicle of Higher Education placed Fordham at No. 15 on its list of “Colleges with the Highest Student-Mobility Rates,” a ranking that measures whether recent graduates’ income surpasses that of their parents. First-generation college students make up 23% of the undergraduate Class of 2025.
• Fundraising: Fordham has raised more than $1 billion since 2003. That’s more than the University had raised in its entire 162-year history prior to Father McShane’s tenure as president.
• Endowment: The University’s endowment has more than quadrupled, from $241.2 million in 2003 to more than $1 billion today.
• Scholarships and Financial Aid: With support from donors, the University created more than 400 new scholarship funds for students, including 197 as part of Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid, which raised more than $175 million for students between 2014 and 2019.

  

• Access and Affordability: The University increased spending on financial aid from $48 million in 2003 to more than $300 million this year. Today, 90% of first-year undergraduates receive some form of financial aid from Fordham.
• Endowed Chairs and External Grants: To help attract and retain more of the world’s leading scholars and educators, Fordham dramatically increased its number of endowed faculty chairs—from 23 to 71. The University also bolstered its Office of Research, increasing funding from external sources by 85%, from $13 million in 2003 to $24 million in 2021.
• Academic Achievement: Fordham students have earned 2,121 prestigious fellowships and scholarships, including 158 Fulbright awards, since 2003, placing the University among the nation’s top producers of Fulbright scholars.
• Academic and Residential Facilities: Since 2003, Fordham has invested more than $1 billion in major capital projects, including a current $205 million renovation and expansion of the campus center at Rose Hill.

  

• National Rankings: Fordham has leaped 18 places in U.S. News & World Report’s national college rankings, from No. 84 in 2003 to No. 66. Several of Fordham’s graduate and professional schools also advanced in the rankings: Fordham Law is No. 27; the Graduate School of Social Service is No. 25; the Graduate School of Education is No. 39; and the graduate division of the Gabelli School of Business is No. 58, with three program areas—finance (15), international business (15), and marketing (14)—among the top 20 in the nation.

A ‘Mystical Regard’ for Fordham

In late 2002, when Father McShane was appointed to lead Fordham, he was in his fifth year as president of the University of Scranton, a post he held until June 2003. But he was no stranger to the Fordham community.

A New York City native, he taught theology and served as the dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill from 1992 to 1998. Prior to that, he was a member of the University’s Board of Trustees. And though he completed his studies elsewhere—earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston College, M.Div. and S.T.M. degrees from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in the history of Christianity from the University of Chicago—Fordham was in his DNA.

As a boy, he attended basketball games and alumni reunions at Rose Hill with his father, Owen P. McShane, a graduate of Fordham College and Fordham Law School who instilled in his four sons a “mystical regard” for Fordham.

“It was my first experience of a college campus, and it was a place that was larger than life,” Father McShane said during a September 2003 media roundtable with alumni and student journalists. “But as time went on, it occurred to me that Fordham was a mystical place for my father because he was the first person in his family to go to college. It was the institution that made his life, changed his life.”

That deep sense of Fordham as a place of personal and communal transformation, particularly for first-generation college students, has been a keynote of Father McShane’s administration.

In his message to the Fordham family announcing his decision to step down as president, he noted that in addition to his father, each of his three brothers earned a degree from Fordham.

“Fordham breathed life into their dreams and formed their lives in powerful ways,” he wrote. “Through their stories and the example of their lives, I came to understand the transformative power of the Jesuit education they received here.”

‘Ever Upward’: An Ambitious Agenda for Fordham

Soon after his inauguration, Father McShane led the University community through a yearlong strategic planning process. The goal was to draw on Fordham’s historic strengths, recent accomplishments, and untapped potential—particularly at the Lincoln Center campus—to lift the University to a position of greater prominence.

In March 2009, he announced that through Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham, the University would seek to raise $500 million to renew itself physically, spiritually, and academically.

By 2014, more than 60,000 alumni and friends had contributed $540 million, propelling the University well beyond its fundraising goal. Together they helped the University create more than 220 scholarships, build residence halls for a total of 800-plus students at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center, and bolster the faculty with the creation of nearly 50 endowed chairs in business, law, Catholic theology, Judaic studies, STEM, and other fields.

A Historic Investment in Business Education

The single largest contribution during the campaign came in 2010 from the Gabelli Foundation, a gift that has strengthened Fordham’s ability to provide a purpose-driven business education in the financial capital of the world.

Mario J. Gabelli, a 1965 Fordham graduate, and his wife, Regina Pitaro, a 1976 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill, announced their historic $25 million gift to Fordham on September 25, 2010, before the start of the annual Homecoming football game. At the time, it was the largest single gift in Fordham’s history—superseded 10 years later, in December 2020, when Gabelli and Pitaro made a $35 million gift to the University.

Gabelli and Pitaro’s support has allowed the business school to strengthen and expand its faculty, create a Ph.D. program, launch a bachelor’s degree program in global business at the Lincoln Center campus, and fund scholarships and research, among other initiatives. In gratitude, the University renamed its undergraduate business college the Gabelli School of Business—and in 2015, Fordham unified its undergraduate, graduate, and executive business programs under the Gabelli name.

Alumni support also helped the University complete a two-year renovation of Hughes Hall, which reopened in 2012 as the permanent Rose Hill home of the Gabelli School.

Lincoln Center Rising

One of the most visible, dramatic legacies of Father McShane’s tenure as president is the transformation of the Lincoln Center campus.

When the campus was built during the 1960s, it was designed to accommodate 3,500 students. By the early 21st century, it was bursting at the seams, with 8,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Fordham Law, long regarded as one of the best law schools in the country, was serving 1,500 students in a building designed for 650.

Under Father McShane’s leadership, the University developed and eventually earned New York City approval to enact a master plan for expanding the campus—the first stage of which was the construction of a new law school and undergraduate residence hall.

The new Fordham Law School opened in fall 2014. Designed by world-renowned architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the 22-story building has not only reshaped the campus but also added a touch of elegance to the Manhattan skyline. The law school occupies the first nine floors, and McKeon Hall, a residence for more than 400 undergraduates, rises above it.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor was among the dignitaries at the dedication ceremony for the new building. She spoke warmly of Father McShane’s leadership. “You have given a special spirit to this University, and I’m so pleased to be here,” she said. “Fordham never ceases to amaze me.”

Two years later, Fordham completed a gut renovation of 140 West 62nd Street, former home of the law school, transforming it into a campus center with a three-story library, a student lounge and café, health and counseling centers, career services offices, and abundant space for classrooms and student activities. The renovated building also serves as a home for the Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center.

An Increasingly Global University

Fordham also extended its influence beyond New York City in dramatic fashion during Father McShane’s tenure.

In 2008, Fordham opened its Westchester campus in West Harrison, New York—a home away from home for the School of Professional and Continuing Studies as well as the graduate schools of Business, Education, Religion and Religious Education, and Social Service.

A decade later, Fordham established a home of its own in the United Kingdom’s most cosmopolitan city. Fordham London, a six-story building in the city’s Clerkenwell neighborhood, opened in fall 2018 to more than 300 undergraduates from Fordham and other U.S. universities.

At the London campus, students take courses in business and the liberal arts while interning in marketing, banking, media, health science, and other fields. “A big part of Fordham’s educational approach is applied learning, using the city as our campus, and London provides a whole new way to do that,” Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business, said at the time.

The University also bolstered its longstanding partnership with Peking University in Beijing and established a partnership with the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where students pursue research in emerging markets, among other subjects, and take part in the Ubuntu Service Learning program.

During Father McShane’s tenure, Fordham increased its study abroad options to 110 programs in 52 countries. Prior to the pandemic, the University ranked No. 31 in the country for the number of students it sends abroad each year, according to the Institute of International Education.

Academic Growth and Partnerships

During his six years as dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill during the 1990s, Father McShane prioritized faculty development and student scholarship.

Soon after returning to Fordham as president, he picked up where he left off, establishing the Office of Prestigious Fellowships to help students compete for and win prestigious postgraduate scholarships to further their intellectual and personal growth. The results have been impressive: Since 2003, Fordham students have earned 2,121 prestigious fellowships and scholarships, including 158 Fulbright awards, placing the University among the nation’s top producers of Fulbright scholars.

Father McShane also encouraged faculty and administrators to renew and develop innovative academic programs to meet students’ needs. Since 2003, the University has not only launched a host of new degree programs—in public media, health administration, and international humanitarian action, to name a few—but also established academic centers, including the Center on National Security and the Center on Race, Law and Justice, where faculty and students advance research and public discourse to address some of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century.

Fordham has also emerged as a global leader in cybersecurity education in the past decade, thanks in part to a partnership with the FBI.

Since 2009, the University has worked with the FBI to organize and host the International Conference on Cyber Security, or ICCS. Typically held every 18 months, the conference attracts top security and law enforcement officials, university researchers, and executives from companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Google.

Fordham also established a master’s degree program in cybersecurity, which has tripled in enrollment since 2016. The National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Homeland Security have designated Fordham a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education, and last year, the NSA awarded the University a $3 million grant to lead an effort to help historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions develop their own cybersecurity programs.

New York City: Partner in Education

While Fordham has become an increasingly prominent national and global university in the past two decades, it continues reaching out to its local communities through service, academic partnerships, and various other initiatives such as the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) for students from underrepresented groups.

In his inaugural address in 2003, Father McShane described the University’s longstanding ties to New York City, and he challenged the Fordham community to find new ways to learn from its neighbors and contribute to their well-being.

“The city that we are proud to call our home is not merely our address,” he said. “It is and has been our partner in education, our laboratory, and our classroom from the moment that Archbishop Hughes first stepped foot on Rose Hill Manor to launch the great enterprise of Catholic higher education in the Northeast in 1841.”

More than ever before, New York is on the syllabus for Fordham students. During Father McShane’s tenure, Fordham established and reinforced partnerships with some of the city’s top civic and educational institutions.

In 2012, for example, Fordham joined four other renowned Bronx institutions—the New York Botanical Garden, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Society, and Montefiore Medical Center—to create the Bronx Science Consortium. The partnership has increased collaborative research and educational opportunities for students and scientists, and helped elevate the borough’s status as a critical contributor to New York’s “Eds and Meds” sector—the academic, research, and medical institutions that drive innovation and help fuel the city’s economy.

Fordham has also strengthened its internships program, which has grown to include more than 3,500 partner organizations, and given students many more ways to get involved in community-based work.

The Center for Community Engaged Learning, established in 2018, oversees both Urban Plunge, the pre-orientation program that introduces first-year students to New York City through service, and Global Outreach, which connects students with community-based organizations in the U.S. and abroad to help them better understand social justice issues at the ground level.

The center also helps faculty develop courses that connect students with local organizations working to understand societal problems and promote the common good. The number of community engaged learning courses has increased from seven to 52 in just the past few years.

During Father McShane’s tenure, Fordham also established the Social Innovation Collaboratory, a network of students, faculty, administrators, alumni, and community members working together to promote social innovation for the achievement of social justice, social entrepreneurship, and environmental sustainability.

In 2014, Fordham became one of 45 colleges and universities to be designated a “Changemaker Campus” by Ashoka, a global organization that honors universities for innovative efforts to foster social good and strengthen society.

Community and Civic Leadership

Through his own civic engagement, Father McShane has set the tone for the University’s deepening involvement with the life of the city.

He has served on the board of the Museum of Civil Rights in Harlem, for example; on mayoral task forces on the future of higher education, the future of media, and workforce development; on an advisory board for the Metropolitan Transit Authority; and on the New York City Charter Revision Commission, appointed by then mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2010. In 2017, he was honored by the 100 Year Association for Fordham’s commitment to community service and its contributions to New York City.

On the state level, Father McShane served two terms as chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), an Albany-based nonprofit organization that represents the chief executives of New York’s colleges and universities on issues of public policy.

“Father McShane is an indefatigable voice for higher education and its ability to transform lives,” said former CICU president Mary Beth Labate. “As a twice-elected chair of the commission, Father was extraordinarily generous with his time and talents in the quest to insure that students, no matter their socioeconomic background, had access to a high quality education.

“When I accompanied him in the halls of the state capitol, he was greeted like the rock star that he is. The size of his contributions was only outmatched by the size of his heart. Colleges and students across the state owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Most recently, Father McShane served on the New York Forward Advisory Board to help shape the state’s plan for reopening after the pandemic, drawing on his experiences leading the Fordham community through some of the most challenging years in its history.

Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

In early March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout the U.S., Father McShane, like many other university presidents and chief executives, faced a crisis for which there was no playbook.

He made what he called the “difficult but necessary decision” to suspend face-to-face classes on March 9 and transition to remote learning for the rest of the semester. Then he established the Fordham Forward Task Force, which worked to prepare the University for reopening safely on the ground for the 2020–2021 academic year and again this year.

Finally, he identified three priorities that continue to guide the University’s decision-making throughout the crisis: protect the University’s people; preserve the University’s ability to provide students with a world-class Jesuit education; and “emerge from the pandemic with the strength needed to fulfill our mission and to confront the challenges of the future with renewed hope and vigor.”

Father McShane worked closely with the task force, the Board of Trustees, the Faculty Senate, and the finance office to balance the 2020 and 2021 budgets, which had $38 million and $105 million gaps, respectively, as a result of the fallout from the pandemic.

“Leadership is a risky business, even in the best of circumstances, because it is asking people to change, often to sacrifice,” said Donna M. Carroll, president emerita of Dominican University and a trustee fellow of Fordham University. “Father McShane has been focused and persistent in his service to Fordham, navigating difficult conversations with patience, candor, and encouragement. Fordham’s strength in the aftermath of the pandemic is a tribute to his sustained leadership, though he would be the first to highlight the contributions of others.”

By the conclusion of the 2020–2021 academic year, as pandemic-related restrictions began to ease temporarily across the country, Fordham hosted a series of diploma ceremonies on Edwards Parade. Father McShane saluted the Class of 2021 for its perseverance: “You never surrendered. Rather, you rose to every challenge that the world threw at you,” he said.

He also noted that graduates completed their studies in a year marked not only by a global pandemic but also by an economic downturn, a reckoning with racism, and an assault on the U.S. Capitol and the democratic principles upon which our nation has been built and sustained.

“The toll these cascading plagues has taken on all of us, and on you in a special way, has been enormous,” he said. “With ease and grace, you became one another’s keepers, and in the process, you became ministers of cura personalis to one another,” he said, referring to the Jesuit principle of “care of the whole person” that is at the heart of a Fordham education.

Fighting Racism, Educating for Justice

Father McShane has made a renewed commitment to anti-racism a top priority of his final years in office. In a State of the University address delivered virtually on September 12, 2020, he noted that the preceding academic year had marked not only the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic but also the “blossoming of a new civil rights movement aimed at addressing racism in our country.”

In June 2020, after the May 25 killing of George Floyd galvanized global protests against racial injustice—and amid cries from the heart of the Fordham community—Father McShane put forth a plan to address systemic racism and do more to build a diverse, inclusive, and affirming community at Fordham.

“The heartfelt testimony given by members of our community in the course of the summer has made it searingly clear that racism is also present here at Fordham,” Father McShane said, referring to stories of discrimination students and alumni of color shared, largely on social media.

“As painful as that admission may be, we must face up to it. Therefore, let me be clear: anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion are institutional and mission priorities at Fordham, priorities that grow out of our identity as an American, Catholic, and Jesuit institution located in the City of New York.”

He added: “With regard to confronting racism, let us be honest. This is and will be an ongoing challenge, for we will be called upon to confront both the kind of blatant, brutal racism that was behind the deaths of George Floyd and so many others of our sisters and brothers, and the racism of indifference that gives blatant racism its real power: the racism of the blind eye, the racism of silence, and the racism of self-absolution.”

The Board of Trustees approved the plan, which Father McShane crafted in concert with the offices of the provost and the chief diversity officer. The board also charged the newly renamed Mission and Social Justice Committee to oversee the University’s anti-racism strategy, and the trustees mandated annual anti-racism training for all faculty, students, staff, and administrators—including the president’s cabinet and the board itself.

Continuing the Mission: ‘Bothered Excellence’

Throughout his tenure, Father McShane has made an eloquent case for what he calls “the urgent purpose” behind Jesuit education. It’s a purpose that is at the heart of the University’s anti-racism efforts and its latest strategic plan, Educating for Justice.

“We want nothing less than to leave you bothered for the rest of your lives,” he told admitted students in an April 2020 video, “bothered by the realization that you don’t know everything and that there are discoveries and adventures waiting for you just over the horizon, and by the realization that there is injustice in the world, injustice that cries out for a caring response.”

By any measure, Father McShane’s presidency has been transformative. There are the new buildings, new programs, and record-breaking advances in enrollment and fundraising. But beyond the data and tangible evidence of growth, he has embodied the values of the University, trustees say, and placed Fordham in a position to strengthen its mission.

“I cannot imagine a finer leader during his tenure—the personification of the ideal Jesuit, a superb scholar, and a true New Yorker,” said Edward M. Stroz, GABELLI ’79, a Fordham trustee. “Whether measured by student applications and graduations, growth of the endowment, or the cultivation of Fordham’s presence in New York, what Father McShane has done is extraordinary and a source of pride for us all. He will leave Fordham in a very strong position for continuing its mission for our students in the future.”

Another Fordham trustee, Anthony Carter, FCRH ’76, a co-chair of the board’s Mission and Social Justice Committee, spoke about the pastoral quality of Father McShane’s leadership.

“In addition to being a generous servant of God with abundant love for Fordham, he has served us all with a kind heart, purity of spirit, faith-driven humility, and passion for diversity and inclusiveness,” Carter said. “In order to burnish Father McShane’s impressive legacy into the history books and our hearts, we should all strive to imitate his gentle soul and love for humankind.”

For Nora Ahern Grose, GABELLI ’84, who has been a member of the Board of Trustees for 10 years, the year ahead will be an emotional one.

“[Father McShane] has challenged us, in his self-effacing and kind manner, to advance the mission, quality, and portrait of Fordham to distinct and exceptional heights,” she said. “We look forward to another year of his leadership, a year when every laugh and tear, every celebration of accomplishment, every quiet moment of prayer and reflection with our dear Father McShane will have even greater significance than previously.

“We will say thank you many times, and he will always reply that he was the grateful one.”

Tributes to Father McShane

As Father McShane announced his plan to step down in June 2022, current and former Fordham trustees and other leaders in higher education expressed their appreciation and deep gratitude for his service on behalf of the University and its people.

You have been an amazing leader, Joe—for Fordham and for the rest of us in higher education. You’ve also been a friend and I value that a great deal.

—Stephen Ainlay, Former President, Union College

When I learned that this is your last year leading Fordham University, I wanted to thank you on behalf of CICU for your tremendous contributions over the years. Your service on the CICU board has left a lasting impact, as has your leadership in New York state and in our sector. While I and CICU staff are sorry to lose you as an advocate, we look forward to working with you during the remainder of your tenure. Congratulations on your impending retirement. I wish you many healthy, happy, and fulfilling years.

—Lola W. Brabham, President, Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU)

As chairman of the search committee 18 years ago, it was my privilege to put forward the recommendation of Joseph McShane, S.J., as president of Fordham University. It was a great day for Fordham, as have been the subsequent soon to be 19 years that have followed. The University has flourished under his leadership and caring nature for every individual. It has been a wonderful personal and professional pleasure knowing him, and I wish him continued success as he completes this farewell year as Fordham’s president.

—Robert E. Campbell, GABELLI ’55, Trustee Emeritus and Former Chair, Fordham University Board of Trustees; Retired Vice Chairman, Johnson & Johnson

Joseph McShane, S.J., is recognized among Catholic university leaders and within his New York colleague group as a stunningly successful, mission-driven president. Intense, passionate, and charismatically articulate, he has transformed Fordham University from a strong regional institution to a national leader—increasing quality, enrollment, and reputation, and resulting in skyrocketing alumni support.

Leadership is a risky business, even in the best of circumstances, because it is asking people to change, often to sacrifice. Father McShane has been focused and persistent in his service to Fordham, navigating difficult conversations with patience, candor, and encouragement. Fordham’s strength in the aftermath of the pandemic is a tribute to his sustained leadership, though he would be the first to highlight the contributions of others.

I have known Joe McShane since we worked together at Fordham in the early ’90s, then as a trustee and through two high-impact presidencies. He is one of the most intelligent, quick witted, generous people that I know. The presidency can wear you down, but Joe is always upbeat, forward-looking, and engaged. He has been a lasting gift to Fordham.

—Donna M. Carroll, President Emerita, Dominican University; Trustee Fellow, Fordham University

As a proud Fordham University trustee, I have been blessed to have worked with Father Joseph McShane, Reverend President as I affectionately call him. I’ve watched with admiration, appreciation, and at times awe as he has fulfilled so many of his dreams, goals, and objectives for our beloved Fordham University. The state of the University is in an enviable position because of his leadership.

There are so many memories about our Reverend President I will cherish forever. In addition to being a generous servant of God with abundant love for Fordham, he has served us all with a kind heart, purity of spirit, faith-driven humility, and passion for diversity and inclusiveness.

In order to burnish Father McShane’s impressive legacy into the history books and our hearts, we should all strive to imitate his gentle soul and love for humankind.

—Anthony Carter, FCRH ’76, Fordham University Trustee; Former Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Johnson & Johnson

Father McShane has been a Casey family friend since his days as president of the University of Scranton. His commitment to the education of our next generation of leaders and Fordham’s academic excellence is unparalleled. Throughout his career, he was driven by the Jesuit mission to prepare graduates whose lives are marked by character, conscience, competence, compassion, and commitment to cause of the human family. The University of Scranton and Fordham are better institutions because of his faith, vision, and leadership. I wish him well in this next chapter of his life.

—U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, PAR ’19

AMDG. It’s hard to imagine Fordham University without Father Joseph M. McShane, S.J., as its chief visionary, leader, promoter, and president. He is a profound and constant example to the Fordham community and the world of how one person can make such a magnificent difference in people’s lives. His record of achievement over his long, successful tenure certainly can be measured by the beautiful enhancements to Fordham’s capital plant, endowment growth, and funds raised, each of which exceeds or will soon exceed $1 billion. Of even greater and inestimable value are Father McShane’s positive impact on students, Fordham’s standing in the world, and his constant adherence to Ignatian principles. His legacy will secure Fordham’s foundations for generations to come, and we are grateful for his leadership, devotion, and service that made it all possible.

—Gerald C. Crotty, FCRH ’73, Trustee Fellow, Fordham University; President, Weichert Enterprise, LLC

We have had the privilege of knowing and working with Father McShane for more than two decades in his roles as president of Fordham and dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. In that time he has transformed Fordham through his wise leadership and prodigious fundraising, raising the University to national prominence. He has also been the soul of the University—its pastor in chief. In times of crisis and grief he has consoled the on-campus community, and thousands of alumni spread across the globe, including us. We will greatly miss his intelligence, deep wisdom, and compassion.

—Maurice J. (Mo) Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., GSAS ’71

Take it from me: leadership and administration today is not a blissful task. Father McShane did it with gusto, effectiveness, cheer, and wisdom for 19 years. Thanks, Joe! We’ll miss you!

—Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

My family and I have been beneficiaries of Father McShane’s counsel, his guidance on matters of faith, and his friendship for the 20 or so years we have known him, from his days as dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill to his current position as president of the finest Catholic University in the nation. He has often described himself as the Flaherty family priest, an honor greatly appreciated by the 18 of us. He has, after all, baptized one grandson, blessed the wedding of our son Kevin, and buried my wife, mother of four and Nana of 10, all in the last 6 years. A brief disclosure: Kevin was Jane’s favorite child; we all knew that. I hate to break the news to Father McShane, but Father O’Hare was Jane’s favorite Jesuit.

I shall be sorry when he leaves for my selfish reasons, but also because I believe the University will be poorer for his absence in many respects. Firstly, he has been the best fundraiser we’ve had here. I’ve been told that anyone can raise funds; I hope trustees are correct. Secondly, he believes he is a priest first and president second; I think he has his priorities right. And lastly, of course, his Irishness permeates his smile, his interaction with students, and even his relationship with trustees and faculty; no easy task that.

He will be missed by me and I suspect by the University over the coming years.

—James P. Flaherty, FCRH ’69, Fordham University Trustee; Founder and Chairman, International Health Investor

During Father McShane’s presidency, Fordham has undergone a renaissance. The University today boasts strong admission numbers, a record endowment, and many successful capital improvements. In perhaps the greatest tests of his steadfast leadership, he has expertly navigated the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 and currently the COVID-19 pandemic.

As his 19-year mark and retirement approach, we extend our deepest gratitude for his exemplary service, along with all good wishes for the future.

—Mario Gabelli, B.S. ’65, Alumnus, Namesake, and Benefactor of the Gabelli School of Business; and Regina Pitaro, FCRH ’76

For more than his 25 years at Fordham, Father McShane has been an important voice for Catholic higher education, for Jesuit universities, and, indeed, for the importance of public and private support for education of all citizens, especially the marginalized and those who have been deprived of this critical opportunity. His energy and enthusiasm have inspired many of us to advocate for the promotion of access and inclusion in private and public education alike. I suspect that, while he may be stepping down from the presidency at Fordham, he will find a way to continue his service and advocacy. He is still very much needed and appreciated.

—Michael J. Garanzini, S.J., President, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities

There may be a more riveting speaker, a greater inspirer of youth, a better leader or a sharper wit than Father McShane, but having all of these qualities in his abundance is truly exceptional. He has challenged us, in his self-effacing and kind manner, to advance the mission, quality, and portrait of Fordham to distinct and exceptional heights. We look forward to another year of his leadership, a year when every laugh and tear, every celebration of accomplishment, every quiet moment of prayer and reflection with our dear Father McShane will have even greater significance than previously.

We will say thank you many times, and he will always reply that he was the grateful one.

—Nora Ahern Grose, GABELLI ’84, Fordham University Trustee

Father McShane has led Fordham through a period of continued national uncertainty. During his presidency, Fordham has gained academic strength, broadened our national student population, and led fundraising which resulted in an endowment topping $1 billion. He will be missed, but his legacy foretells a bright future for our University.

—Paul Guenther, FCRH ’62, Trustee Emeritus and Former Chair, Fordham University Board of Trustees; Retired President, PaineWebber

Father McShane has been an absolutely remarkable leader for Fordham University and, indeed, for all of higher education in the United States during his career. On every significant national issue involving the Catholic Church, the Society of Jesus, or the role of independent colleges and universities over the past 25 years, Father McShane has been a wise, insightful, and vocal leader who has shaped the discussion and pointed the way forward. Along the way, he has become a trusted friend and adviser to so many of us. To say that his considerable contributions in so many circles will be missed is a vast understatement.

—John J. Hurley, President, Canisius College

Father McShane has been an incredible steward of our beloved Fordham over these many years, and his bold vision has propelled us to places we had only once dreamed about. His fearlessness has empowered and positively impacted Fordham in too many ways to capture in a few sentences. However, the place where I believe he has made an indelible mark is in the area of fundraising, when he insisted that Fordham start to dream bolder dreams and fundraise in a way to ensure we attain those dreams.

Because of Father, a new culture of giving at Fordham blossomed and continues to grow and strengthen.

I have been proud to witness firsthand the love, commitment, vision, and passion Father McShane has for the University. By continuing to push and by always keeping his eyes on the horizon, Father McShane has not only secured Fordham’s place but has set the University on the path to greatness. I do not think it is an overstatement to say that other than John Hughes, the founder of Fordham, no other single individual has had such an immense, lasting, and powerful impact on the University.

What Father has done will impact every person who steps foot on the campuses of Fordham University for generations. However, he also has had positive impacts on so many people on very personal levels. He has enriched my life and has been a wonderful friend who provided strength and love when most needed. I know that there are so many in the Fordham community who have had the same experience.

Honestly, all I can say to Father is thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all you have done for every member of the Fordham family.

—Darlene Luccio Jordan, FCRH ’89, Fordham University Trustee; Co-Chair, Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham and Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid; Executive Director, The Gerald R. Jordan Foundation

Father, your announcement surprised me, as I instinctively think of you and Fordham as synonymous and everlasting. No person certainly is ever indispensable, but you come as close as anyone in my lifetime because every aspect of Fordham under your leadership has fundamentally improved. Most importantly, the quality of our values-based education in strengthening the moral and spiritual underpinning of our students’
character development. I have had so much feedback from our students through the years during your leadership as they openly expressed their devotion and gratitude to Fordham for changing their lives. Feel good about the tens of thousands of our graduates who are leading productive and quality life experiences propelled and advanced by their transformational Fordham experience.

You touched every aspect of Fordham in improving student selection, staff/faculty hiring, the everyday functioning of the University, the athletic programs, facilities management, and, of course, your extraordinarily successful fundraising campaigns. Father, you established a strong financial foundation securing Fordham’s future. You were also Fordham’s greatest champion and you made us all proud of our Fordham experience enlisting so many of us in your journey to make Fordham even better.

I wish you all the very best that life has to offer as you transition to a new role, but please know how grateful we are for your leadership and your friendship. I truly value how you were there for me during my most difficult life challenge, the loss of Terry after 55 years. Providing comfort to me and my family and offering her funeral Mass and service at Arlington will always be close to our hearts. May God’s blessing be upon you, dear friend. Much love and respect.

—Jack Keane, GABELLI ’66, Trustee Fellow, Fordham University; Former Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Army; Chairman, Institute for the Study of War

Father McShane is an indefatigable voice for higher education and its ability to transform lives. As a twice-elected chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), Father was extraordinarily generous with his time and talents in the quest to ensure that students, no matter their socioeconomic background, had access to a high-quality education. When I accompanied him in the halls of the state capitol, he was greeted like the rock star that he is. The size of his contributions were only outmatched by the size of his heart. Colleges and students across the state owe him a debt of gratitude.

—Mary Beth Labate, Former President, Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities

Father McShane is a much respected and appreciated leader, clearly committed to higher education and the intellectual apostolate. He and I have been friends for more than 40 years, and I have always found him to be compassionate, insightful, and dedicated. On many occasions, I and others have enjoyed his gift for enlivening meetings with telling observations and wit, and I know that people greatly enjoy his company.

Thanks to Father McShane’s effort, Fordham is a better, stronger academic institution, more able to meet challenges and opportunities. His impact has been immense, evident to anyone walking on the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses. While I regret that he will be stepping down as Fordham’s president in summer 2022, I know that he will continue making significant contributions as a faithful Jesuit priest and educator wherever he is in the future.

—William P. Leahy, S.J., President, Boston College

Father Joe McShane has led Fordham University with energy, purpose, and grace for nearly two decades. Thanks to his leadership, Fordham is an academically stronger, more vibrant, and more influential university than ever before. At the same time, he has been an important and highly respected voice in discussions nationally about the role and place of colleges and universities in the 21st century. Across the diverse landscape of American higher education, all of us who were lucky to work with him and benefit from his wise counsel are grateful and will miss his insightful and thoughtful help. Thanks, Joe.

—Ted Mitchell, President, American Council on Education

Under Father McShane’s outstanding leadership, Fordham has transformed itself from a well-regarded regional institution into a distinguished, nationally and internationally recognized university.

—Armando Nuñez Jr., GABELLI ’82, Vice Chair, Fordham University Board of Trustees; Advisor and Former CEO, Global Distribution Group, Viacom CBS

As Father McShane approaches retirement from his current position, I am honored to express the admiration and gratitude of his brother Jesuits. I can testify to the deep love for and commitment to Fordham that have marked Father McShane’s 25 years of service to the University, six as dean of Fordham College and 19 as president. In the future, as a loyal son of Saint Ignatius Loyola, he will bring his depth of experience and dedication to new ministerial assignments after a well-deserved break.

—Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J., GSAS ’81, Provincial, USA East Province of the Society of Jesus

I vividly recall driving out to Scranton with fellow board member and Presidential Search Committee member Pat Nazemetz to interview Father McShane. He gave us a tour of the Scranton University campus. Everyone we passed greeted him with a broad smile. It was clear he was deeply admired and that he felt very comfortable chatting with the students.

We had a very pleasant lunch at a local golf club. Father McShane’s deep love and knowledge of Fordham was palpable. Pat and I had a sense that he was clearly the person who could enthusiastically build on what Father Joe O’Hare had accomplished and take Fordham to new heights. When Pat and I reported to the search committee, they were thrilled to hear how enthusiastic Father McShane was about the possibility of being Father O’Hare’s successor. He did not disappoint us.

Father McShane’s many bold initiatives over his long tenure have made Fordham a first-class world university. He leaves behind a legacy that will ensure Fordham will continue to be a world-class Jesuit university.

Thank you, Father McShane.

—Joseph P. Parkes, S.J., JES ’68, Provincial Assistant for Secondary and Pre-Secondary Education, USA East Province of the Society of Jesus; Former Fordham University Trustee; and Former President, Cristo Rey New York High School

When the history of Fordham University in our time is written, the tenure of Father McShane will stand out for its excellence. Fordham’s unprecedented growth as one of the premier universities not just in our region, not just in our nation, but in the entire world was meteoric and no accident, the result of meticulous planning and cultivation. The Fordham community has become a beacon almost unmatched in scholarship, teaching, and culture under Father McShane’s steady hand. So while I am sad to lose Father McShane’s leadership of our Fordham, I am excited for the future of our great institution. That future was paved by the guidance of Father Joseph M. McShane.

—U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., FCRH ’59, GSAS ’61

You have done an amazing job advancing the University and are an enthusiastic and eloquent advocate for all that Fordham does and all for which it stands. It is hard to think of either you or Fordham without the other.

While your list of accomplishments at Fordham is long and worthy of great praise, so too are the many things you have done outside of Fordham itself. In the organizations in which we have overlapped (AJCU, CICU, and A-10, among them), all have benefited from the substantial impact you have on decisions and direction. You always provide wise, values-based insights and compelling arguments, grounded in a passion to make things better. And Jesuit higher education overall has benefited enormously from your advocacy.

Further, I have always admired your ability to connect with so many and do so with such genuine concern and sincerity. You are generous with your time and supportive of fellow travelers.

I can sense your modesty deflecting this and much of the other well-deserved accolades you are receiving. You have made a difference, Joe, a big difference, and done so across many realms. You have done the Lord’s work well and I pray that you have many more years to continue to do so.

—Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., President, Saint Louis University

Father McShane has been an incredible leader and Fordham has become a new and better institution under his leadership. He leaves a legacy of excellence, integrity, and perseverance not just with the Fordham family but with the broader community, all guided by his faith and an unwavering commitment to helping his fellow man and woman achieve their God-given gifts. He is a giant in academia who leaves behind big shoes to fill.

—Valerie Rainford, FCRH ’86, Fordham University Trustee; CEO, Elloree Talent Strategies

As a loyal member of the Fordham family for over 60 years (four degrees), I have had the privilege of observing closely our university’s arc of development. There is no doubt that the McShane years have been transformative, establishing the Jesuit university of New York City as a magnet for talent from around our country and the world, thereby creating a contemporary manifestation of the core values of Jesuit education. And even as Father Joe led our University to this new version of itself, he became a champion of those values to all in higher education and a universally admired role model for those of us who devote our lives to improving education generally. I (we all) will miss his voice in our daily conversations; but, believe me, we will turn to him regularly for advice.

—John Sexton, FCRH ’63, GSAS ’65, ’78, President Emeritus, New York University

Fordham is synonymous with Father Joe, and so is higher education in New York more broadly. You have been such an important presence and voice in this work, and such an inviting and generous colleague to me as I have come into this sector and this state. I am sad for all of us that you are moving on to your next chapter but, of course, happy for you as you embark on whatever it is that is next for you.

—Laura Sparks, President, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

Father McShane has an incredible legacy of accomplishments during his years as president at Fordham University. I cannot imagine a finer leader during his tenure—the personification of the ideal Jesuit, a superb scholar, and a true New Yorker. Whether measured by student applications and graduations, growth of the endowment, or the cultivation of Fordham’s presence in New York, what Father McShane has done is extraordinary and a source of pride for us all. He will leave Fordham in a very strong position for continuing its mission for our students in the future.

—Edward M. Stroz, GABELLI ’79, Fordham University Trustee; Co-Founder and Retired Executive Chairman, Stroz Friedberg LLC

“I love Father Joseph McShane. While I am so happy that he will be moving on to this next, happy phase in his life, I know Fordham is losing an exemplary leader who has led us to new heights. Father O’Hare was a hard act to follow, but Father McShane has exceeded our expectations. We thank him for dedicating his life to God and all of us. On behalf of my family, myself, and the wider community, we have all benefited from his wisdom, his humor, his intellect, his work, his love, and his guidance. I wish my friend the very best. Let us all try and emulate our leader Father Joseph McShane, and to truly thank him, let us recommit ourselves Ad majorem Dei gloriam!”

—U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi, LAW ’89, PAR ’17

It is difficult to sum up the profound impact that Father McShane’s leadership and character have had on Fordham over the years. Suffice it to say that he has worked tirelessly and effectively to drive Fordham’s rise to ever-greater prominence, and ensure that it remains a special, welcoming place: elite without being elitist, and faithful to its mission of educating students of distinction who will make a difference in the world.

—John N. Tognino, PCS ’75, Former Chair, Fordham University Board of Trustees; Chairman and CEO, Pepper Financial Group

As Father McShane moves on from his longtime post as president of Fordham University, we can reflect on the tremendous contribution he made for students and alumni like myself. He had an innate ability to inspire students, staff, and faculty toward Jesuit principles—to better ourselves, and at the same time, be men and women for others, especially the poor. For this and his unwavering commitment to the Fordham community, we thank him for his work and service. His influence will continue to be felt beyond the university, and wherever God sends him next.

—U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas, GSAS ’87

“Wealth encompasses a caring workplace, quality products and services, and care for the environment,” said Stroz, a cybersecurity expert and former FBI agent who was awarded an honorary doctorate at the ceremony.

These days, he said, “it’s not just a ‘buy low, sell high’ world. Investors, customers, regulators, and employees are seeking businesses that function with purpose to serve a broader community while using a sustainable model.”

Stroz spoke at the Rose Hill campus on a sunny, mild afternoon before approximately 275 graduates who were seated on Edwards Parade in socially distanced chairs, an arrangement made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic that prompted the University’s pivot to virtual and hybrid education over the past year.

On the day of the ceremony, graduates seemed to shrug off the trials of the past year, savoring the moment as they were cheered on by family and friends (each graduate was allowed two guests).

In all, the Gabelli School celebrated 973 master’s and doctor-level graduates on May 25, with many opting for the virtual diploma ceremony that was videocast that morning. It featured an address by Fran Horowitz, a 1990 MBA graduate of the Gabelli School, who spoke about the lessons learned on her way to reaching her current position as CEO of the apparel company Abercrombie & Fitch.

Building the Right Culture

The importance of the Gabelli School’s culture and values was a common theme among speakers. In her own remarks, Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School, recounted the graduates’ many achievements, such as completing consulting projects; providing advice to major firms like Fidelity Investments or to nongovernmental organizations; and developing original research in auditing, capital markets, and other fields.

“But no matter which courses you chose … you all experienced and contributed to something in common, and that is the Gabelli School culture,” said Rapaccioli, a 1983 graduate of the school. “It values business with purpose. It values teamwork and lifting one another up, recognizing that we can achieve much more together than we can alone. It values questioning our outlook on the entire world. It values academic and professional excellence, and the strong belief that there is always a better way.”

“I challenge you to remember the role that you need to play in creating this kind of culture for others,” she said.

Delivering the invocation, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, noted that none other than Pope Francis has said that business is a noble vocation, “provided that those engaged in it see themselves challenged by a greater meaning in life.”

“In the course of their time in our midst, these, the members of Gabelli’s Class of 2021, have come to believe that they … are called to be the kind of prophetic business leaders that the world always needs, but especially needs at this inflection moment in human history,” Father McShane said.

Jesuit Values in Action

In his remarks, Stroz—a Fordham trustee fellow—told his own story of pivoting from a career with the FBI to being an entrepreneur. Most new businesses fail, and “many people did not expect someone with my background to be able to run a successful business,” he said.

The firm he co-founded was Stroz Friedberg LLC, focused on cybersecurity and digital forensics. It did not fail; rather, it grew, and by the time it was sold to Aon PLC in 2016, it employed 500 people in 14 offices worldwide. Its “secret sauce” was the subject of a case study at Harvard Business School, where Stroz lectured about the firm.

What did his Fordham education have to do with this success? “Almost everything,” Stroz said.

“I took the Jesuit values to heart about care for the individual and aim to treat everyone with respect,” he said. “When I was growing my firm … I was able to identify and attract some of the best people. To this day, the aspect of my firm that I am most proud of is the quality of the people who elected to work for us and why they stayed.”

He mentioned the book My Billion Dollar Education: Inside the Mind of a Rogue Trader, published in 2014 by Toshihide Iguchi, whom Stroz arrested for fraud during his days at the FBI. The book contains this dedication: “To Edward M. Stroz. Without his compassion for humanity and dedication to fairness, I would not be here to write this book,” Stroz said.

“When I arrested [him], I wanted to ensure that he was treated justly and would respect how the American justice system worked so that he would tell us the truth about what he did,” Stroz said.

On Taking Risks

In her address during the virtual diploma ceremony, Horowitz urged the graduates to “challenge yourself and take risks,” giving the example of her own move to become president of Abercrombie & Fitch’s Hollister brand.

“My biggest risk, moving to Hollister when many said I could not revive the brand, yielded the biggest reward,” she said.

It was the opportunity of a lifetime “because of the chance to reinvent a global iconic brand,” she said. She became CEO of Abercrombie after three years in that role. “I firmly believe that the financial and leadership skills that I learned at Gabelli and everything I went through during all [my]career moves … got me to where I am today,” she said.

She noted that there were many who discouraged her from pursuing an MBA. “But I stuck to my guns and trusted my gut, and took what many thought to be a big risk, and I have never looked back.”

She spoke about attitudes and practices she learned along the way to becoming CEO at Abercrombie. Among them: push boundaries, stay curious, do more than is expected. These were especially important when store closures because of the pandemic presented the “unacceptable” prospect of Abercrombie losing 70% of its revenue, she said.

“We quickly pivoted and found new ways to cater to our customers and drive business forward, accomplishing in one year what we thought would have taken five,” she said. “We could have succumbed to the crisis and done the minimum to keep ourselves afloat. Instead, we used it as an opportunity to work stronger, smarter, and faster than ever before.

“Now it’s your turn to build on your experience and to get even stronger, smarter, and faster,” she said.

Her last piece of advice? “Stay balanced.”

Balance “makes us well rounded and better critical thinkers,” she said. “Even when it seems impossible, find time to step away from your desk to make meaningful memories with your friends and loved ones.”

A Unique Student Experience

One of the two student speakers, Anosh Ravikumar Iyer, an MBA graduate and president of the Student Advisory Council, joked that “it’s a pleasant change to address more than 20 people without a screen between us.”

“Our grad school experience wasn’t anything like what we imagined,” he said. “We had to treat Zoom like the best friend we never had. We made the phrase ‘Can you hear me now?’ part of our daily vocabulary,” he said.

“The struggle has been real, but the willpower and determination you have showcased through it all is second to none,” he said. “To our loved ones, your unwavering support is what we needed, and to our faculty, your guidance and mentorship is why we succeeded.”

The other student speaker, Omolola Kufile, who earned an M.S. in marketing intelligence, said it had been an “amazing” experience despite the challenges.

“I can remember walking through the doors of Lincoln Center for the first time, nervous and uncertain [about]what my experience will be, especially as an international student,” she said. “The warm welcome [and]smiling faces from faculty, administrators, and students quickly turned my anxiety to excitement, as I was immediately welcomed as a part of the Fordham family.

“At Gabelli, we learned the true meaning of service to others, which was built into every action, thought, and interaction,” she said. “Every day was a new opportunity to experience the spirit of Gabelli [and]see your fellow students selflessly supporting each other.”

One of those students, Joseph A. Micale, became the first graduate of the Gabelli School’s Ph.D. program. He was drawn to the program because of its rigor, among other things, and appreciated faculty members’ openness to its students’ input about additional things they wanted to study, such as machine learning and data science.

Moving on feels bittersweet, said Micale, who served as an adjunct faculty member at the Gabelli School and will be an assistant professor of accounting at the New Jersey Institute of Technology this fall.

“There’s just so many people who helped with everything,” he said. As the first graduate of the Ph.D. program, he added, “I’m just very happy … to be the first person to say ‘thank you’ to all of them. I could not have done any of this without them.”

Watch a video of the in-person diploma ceremony below and on YouTube:

Watch a video of the virtual diploma ceremony below and on YouTube:

Gabelli’s gift, made by the Gabelli Foundation, supersedes his 2010 donation as the largest single gift in Fordham’s history and will help set the pace of Fordham’s maturing philanthropic culture.

“Words are inadequate to express our gratitude to Mario Gabelli and Regina Pitaro for this second transformative gift, and for their longtime philanthropy and service to Fordham,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University. “It is impossible to overstate the importance of this gift—it will allow us to better prepare more deserving students for positions of leadership in business and finance around the globe. That by itself is deeply impressive but is just a part of the gift’s significance. There is no greater endorsement of the Gabelli School and of Fordham’s mission than a gift of this magnitude coming from two alumni who are ideally situated to understand the University’s strengths and its potential. This generous gift—and Mario and Regina’s previous donations—are a tangible manifestation of the power of a Fordham education. It is a gift not just to an institution, but to the ages. On behalf of the Fordham family and its many generations to come, I thank Mario Gabelli and Regina Pitaro from the bottom of our hearts.”

Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School, agreed.

“Mario’s incredible gift comes at the perfect time in our history. As we celebrate 100 years of our past, his generosity will allow us to continue to position the Gabelli School as a leader in ethical, innovative, global business education,” she said.

Fordham’s Board of Trustees also extended its gratitude to Gabelli and Pitaro in a Dec. 14 resolution that extolled their “extremely generous support” and “philanthropic leadership.”

This transformative gift will be used in a multitude of ways. It will go toward scholarships for MBA and Ph.D. students as well as enhancement of the MBA program and the Ph.D. program—including faculty support in recognition of outstanding research and industry-relevant innovative teaching. For example, it will be used to expand the Gabelli School’s Student Managed Investment Fund program, which currently has junior and senior finance students working together to invest more than $1 million of Fordham University’s actual endowment. The result—in addition to a proud track record of above-the­-benchmark performance—is a hands-on learning experience like no other. The gift will allow for additional portfolios, including an ESG fund for the school’s graduate and undergraduate students to manage.

“A portion of Mario’s gift is being used as a challenge to inspire and motivate other alumni and friends to stand with him as an investor and believer in Dean Rapaccioli’s vision for the Gabelli School of Business,” said Roger A. Milici Jr., vice president for development and University relations at Fordham.

Gabelli and Pitaro will match dollar-for-dollar scholarship gifts for the Gabelli School’s MBA and Ph.D. students, up to $7 million.

Gabelli is a philanthropist, investor, and Chairman and CEO of GAMCO Investors, Inc. A native of the Bronx, his mother was born in Italy, as was his sister. His father returned to Italy from Western Pennsylvania at the age of 2, following his own father’s death in a coal mining accident. In addition to his Fordham degree, he earned an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School in 1967. His wife, Regina M. Pitaro, is a 1976 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill and a trustee fellow of Fordham University. Pitaro also holds a master’s degree from Loyola University Chicago and earned her M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School in 1982.

“The underpinning of meritocracy is education. Education requires faculty, facilities, financing, and great students,” Gabelli said. “We are privileged to support our Fordham alma mater.”

The project began in 2016 with the founding of Every Girl Is Important, a nonprofit that aims to educate and empower young girls in Kenya who struggle to obtain a secondary education.

“One of the biggest challenges for the girls in Kenya is that [many]do not have access to high school … they either have to go to work or get married at a young age,” said Diane Rodríguez, Ph.D., the organization’s co-director and professor in curriculum and teaching at Fordham’s Graduate School of Education. “When women are educated, there are more leaders and more opportunities in those communities.”

The Fundraising Journey 

By spring of 2019, Every Girl Is Important had raised nearly $80,000 to build the new boarding school. Donations continued to come in, including a $10,000 gift from Arthur McEwen, FCRH ’55, a retired vice president of human resources at UPS, but they didn’t close the final gap. Then this past winter, Rodríguez’s partner and EGII co-director in Kenya, Sister Veronica Rop, spoke about their project at Boston College, where she was then a visiting fellow. Sitting in the audience was James Keenan, S.J., vice provost for global engagement and then the director of the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program at Boston College. Sister Veronica’s presentation inspired Father Keenan to speak with the Gabelli Foundation, which donated the $25,000 needed to complete the first stage of the boarding school. (The Gabelli Foundation is chaired by investor Mario Gabelli, an alumnus and major donor to Fordham for whom Fordham’s business school is named.) 

“I think that what inspired [Father Keenan] was the good of the idea of educating girls in rural Kenya and giving them an opportunity to succeed, led by Kenyans and with Kenyans,” Rodríguez said, speaking in a phone call from North Carolina. 

Since the start of the new millennium, Kenya has improved gender parity in primary and secondary education enrollment, but more than half of secondary school-age girls are still not enrolled in schools, according to the latest data from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 

Giving Back to a Global Society Through GSE 

Fordham has been involved with EGII’s efforts in Kenya for several years. In 2019, Rodríguez and six students from the Graduate School of Education traveled to Eldoret, a rural town in Kenya, where they mentored underprivileged girls and learned how to become more culturally sensitive educators. One of the six GSE students, Diana Baca, documented their experience in an eleven-minute YouTube video. 

The boarding school’s construction was set to begin in April, and a new group of students in Rodríguez’s inaugural three-credit elective, Cross Cultural and Educational Perspectives of Communities of Learning, were scheduled to travel with Rodríguez to Kenya this spring to assist with the construction process. But when the pandemic began in March, all plans were put on hold. 

The novel coronavirus has left Kenya relatively unscathed, compared to other countries like the U.S., according to a recent NPR story. However, it has left many girls more vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies amid the pandemic lockdown. Rodríguez said she hopes her Fordham students can travel to Eldoret in fall 2021 at the latest. 

“[My students are] seeing the opportunities that they have and how can they give back in a global society,” Rodríguez said in a Fordham Zoom presentation on the initiative on Oct. 16. “Giving back not only at home, but giving back to empowering other girls around the world.” 

The event, the first of a series dedicated to the centennial, was held at the Times Square headquarters of PVH Corp., the parent company of brands such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. The firm, whose chairman and CEO is Manny Chirico, GABELLI ’79, made a gift of $1 million to the Gabelli School. It also established a partnership with the school to enhance corporate social responsibility through coursework, speakers, visiting scholars, and academic conferences that will convene global thought leaders.

Mario J. Gabelli, a 1965 graduate of the school that bears his name, kicked off the evening with welcome remarks. His wife, Regina Pitaro, FCRH ’76, joined him at the podium, using the opportunity to play a clip of Frank Sinatra’s “The Best is Yet to Come” over her phone for the audience.

“What made America great? Manny is a good example. PVH is a good example. Same thing with Fordham. It was the rule of law and the meritocracy with all its flaws,” said Gabelli, who made a $25 million gift to the Gabelli School in 2010.

“But meritocracy requires education, and education requires facilities, students, faculty, and leadership.”

A New Capital Campaign

To that end, Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School, announced that the school is embarking on a $75 million capital campaign. Among the goals of the campaign are funding scholarships for students, enhancing the school’s MBA and Ph.D. programs, and providing faculty support in recognition of outstanding research and innovative teaching.

“The campaign will support faculty as they engage in research with impact and ensure our curriculum is industry-relevant, with a focus on technology, ethics, and leadership,” she said.

“It will support leadership and career development and programs that help our students prepare for an ever-changing world.”

Rapaccioli reflected on the school’s past and noted how much has changed since its founding in 1920. The subway cost five cents to ride, and tuition to Fordham’s business programs was $175 for day students and $100 for evening students per semester. Women also won the right to vote that year when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed.

“1920 was also the year prohibition started—thank goodness that changed,” she joked.

Looking to the future, she said the school’s success will depend on relationships like the one with PVH, noting that the partnership is “a unique one for us because it touches so many different stakeholders.”

She noted that the school also has relationships with academic institutions like Peking University and Bocconi University and with organizations like the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and UN PRME Principles for Responsible Management Education.

In introducing Chirico, Rapaccioli praised him for his leadership in business and fashion.

“We educate compassionate, global leaders who are forward-thinking and making positive change. Leaders who change the way the world does business. Manny Chirico is a true example of a leader who is changing the way the fashion industry operates.”

A Partnership Focused on Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability

Chirico said he was excited to join forces with his alma mater to establish an academic hub dedicated to the study of corporate responsibility and sustainability. PVH is also celebrating an anniversary this year, as one of only 29 companies to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange for 100 years.

“Our two organizations have survived and prospered through two world wars, one Great Depression, 14 financial recessions, and 27 New York Yankee world championships. I believe our track records are a testament to both Fordham’s and PVH’s resiliency and ability to adapt to change,” he said.

The partnership with the Gabelli School, he said, will help PVH pursue “Forward Fashion CR Strategy,” a five-year plan it launched last year that aims to reduce the firm’s negative impacts on the environment, ensure all its products are ethically resourced, and improve the lives of an estimated one million people connected to the firm’s value chain. In March, the two organizations and EY will explore these issues in a conference, Work 2040: Future of Work in a Sustainable World Conference.

“This partnership builds on both our organizations’ shared belief that businesses are accountable for contributing to a sustainable and responsible future for all,” he said.

Inspired by Social Entrepreneurship

Natalie Dowd, a senior majoring in marketing, shared how transformative an education at the Gabelli School can be. Although she found it difficult to find her place when she enrolled in 2016, something clicked when she discovered Social Impact 360, a social entrepreneurship fellowship for freshmen.

“When I showed up at the meetings and got to brainstorm socially innovative venture ideas alongside other freshmen, I felt as though I had found both my place and my friends. I found myself so excited by SWOT analyses, writing out business plans, and creating slide decks,” she said.

“Social Impact 360 taught me that my passion for social justice could not only co-exist with my interest in business, it could also help shape the future of business itself.”

In closing remarks, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, compared the gathering to the Jesuit tradition of reciting a prayer at the end of the day known as the “litanies,” where the good deeds of Catholic saints are recalled.

Standing before an estimated 400 members of the Gabelli School community and employees of PVH, he said the centennial was the proper occasion to celebrate the saints of the school. Those include Gabelli and Pitaro, Chirico, and Rapaccioli, as well as all those in attendance.

“You’re men and women with a difference, who show the world what true business leadership is about. You are for me, saints in the world,” he said.

“People come up to me and ‘Oh Father, I’m no saint.’ I’ll have nothing of that. I won’t hear that. Through you, the Gabelli name gets stronger by the day. People look at Gabelli and they say, ‘This is the school with a difference, turning out men and women with a difference, men and women whose lives are marked by competence, conscience, compassion, commitment to the cause of the human family, and character.”

Befitting their five-decades-long friendship—the men carpooled together from the Bronx to Wall Street in the 1970s—the conversation had the feel of an informal chat, with plenty of joking and each man finishing the other’s sentences.

Do What You Love, Love What You Do

Cooperman, a former general partner of Goldman Sachs and manager of the hedge fund Omega Advisors, credited his success to hard work, luck, and intuition. The first, he said, is not to be underestimated; even though he’s 76, he still gets to his desk at 6:40 a.m. and goes to bed at 11 p.m. He does this even though he stopped investing client money last year and transformed Omega into a family investment office.

That kind of dedication is really only possible if you love your work, Cooperman told the crowd in the packed McNally Amphitheatre at the Lincoln Center campus.

“If you want to go with the flow today, you go into artificial intelligence, asset management, biotechnology. I’m the antithesis of that; I’m a broken-down stock picker. But I maintain that the only way to be successful is to do what you love, and love what you do. I love what I do,” he said.

Signs of Both Hope and Concern for the Economy

When it comes to the current state of the economy, Cooperman recalled investor Sir John Marks Templeton’s description of the market cycle.

“He said, bull markets are born on pessimism; we had that in ’08 and ’09. They grow on skepticism; we had that in ’10 and ’11. They mature on optimism, which you have now, and they die on euphoria. I don’t see many signs of euphoria right now,” he said.

That said, he said there are some things that worry him. Both he and Gabelli disapproved of the trade war currently being waged between China and the United States, for instance.

“Nobody wins with tariffs. The world loses, and hopefully there will be a resolution, which I think is what the market is expecting,” Cooperman said.

“The thing that should worry all of us around here is the economy is nearly fully employed, but the deficit is going up. In the fourth quarter last year, the economy abruptly slowed because of a very small increase in interest rates. That just tells you there’s too much debt in the system. I worry about the debt.”

The Merits of Recycling Wealth

The two touched on philanthropy as well. Gabelli, chairman and CEO of GAMCO Investors, Inc., and a major Fordham donor for whom the Gabelli School is named, asked Cooperman why he’d signed on to Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge to give away at least 50 percent of his wealth.

Cooperman replied that you can use money to buy things that bring you pleasure, such as art, homes and airplanes, or you can give it to your children or to the government. None of those appeal to him, he said, because material possessions only bring aggravation and giving excessive amounts of money to children robs of them of their sense of self-achievement.

“The fourth thing you can do with money is recycle it back to society, and that’s what I’ve chosen to do. I’m giving back to organizations that made a difference to me and my family in my lifetime,” he said.

“The idea is not original, but it is noble. In 1900, Andrew Carnegie said, ‘You die rich, you die disgraced.’”

Asked for their thoughts on the future of capitalism, Gabelli acknowledged that the system has some problems, but asserted that the meritocracy and rule of law that underpin it in the United States make up for its shortcomings. There are some things, however, that need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

“We have to deal with student loans. This is a real problem, and it’s got to be changed. We have $1.4 trillion in student loans, and we’ve got to solve that. Simple things, like letting you do pre-tax dollars to pay, and the schools have to be more practical about certain things,” he said.

The event was presented by Fordham’s Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis.

Mario Gabelli, the chairman and CEO of GAMCO Investors, Inc., is among the most qualified people you could ask.

For starters, Gabelli—for whom Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business is named—is a legendary arb, or risk arbitrageur, himself. Though better known as a value investor, Gabelli has utilized the discipline of risk arbitrage to successfully invest in companies undergoing mergers, reorganizations, and other corporate events.

Said Gabelli, “If there’s a better discipline than merger arbitrage to use as the foundation for a career in investing, I haven’t found it yet— in 51 years in the financial industry.” That conviction drove Gabelli to enlist Kate Welling, the long-time Barron’s managing editor who since 2012 has independently published Welling on Wall St., an online journal for professional investors, to write the just-published Merger Masters: Tales of Arbitrage. Gabelli provided the introduction, drawing on his decades of experience in risk arbitrage to stress that there’s no better discipline for teaching you everything you need to know about deals and dealmaking than arbitrage. Based on 21 exclusive interviews, Merger Masters then explores the art and science of merger investing and offers an inside view into the world of corporate mergers and takeovers. The volume profiles 18 renowned arbitrageurs, including such famed investors as Paul Singer and John Paulson, who candidly dissect their strategies, successes, and missed opportunities—and then takes the discussion to another level by also including profiles of three uber-successful corporate leaders whose stellar records for enhancing long-term returns to shareholders were built, in part, on dealmaking, and in part on successfully “just saying no” to proffered deals.

Gabelli laid out the book’s guiding questions at a Nov. 28 event at Fordham’s McNally Amphitheatre:

“We have 18 individuals who are highly successful. How does that happen?” he asked. “Does it happen because of the individuals and their backgrounds? Or does it happen because of what they’re doing in their investment process?”

The Mindset of an Arbitrageur

Though the arbitrageurs discussed in the book sometimes differ vastly in terms of the types of deals they prefer to target, Welling found a number of consistent themes in the character makeup of successful merger investors.

“They all are incredibly skeptical, usually very contrarian souls,” Welling said at the Fordham event, which was sponsored by the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis, CFA Society of New York, and the Museum of American Finance.

That contrarian spirit, she said, is almost always paired with a deep analytical mindset. She added that risk arbs must also have nerves of steel—the discipline to adhere to a strategy, a willingness to tolerate calculated risk, and an ability to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty.

“They’re betting all the time,” Welling said. “But they’re not riverboat gamblers, they’re card counters.”

In a contrarian turn of his own, Gabelli said that as much as all investors want every trade to be successful, being a good risk arb “requires an ability to lose.”

“You’ve gotta be excited when you miss one,” he said, and be eager to figure out what went wrong and take lessons from the experience. Risk arbitrage, he said, is analogous to “getting in front of a steamroller and bending down for nickels, and getting crushed every so often.”

Foundational Knowledge

Aside from the opportunity for consistent low-risk returns not correlated to movements in the stock market, the risk arbitrage discipline is also attractive to Gabelli because it teaches investors foundational techniques applicable across the financial industry—valuation, knowledge of domestic and global regulatory and tax regimes, methods of financing and structuring deals, and more.

“Those things work on everything you do,” he said. “It keeps you up-to-date on every financial technique that’s available.”

Gabelli’s message to students: “This is a great business to be in because you learn a lot, it’s not complicated, and you can do it tonight.”

“You’ve gotta know yourself,” Gabelli said, adding, “Take your intellectual talent and apply it consistently in an area.”

This piece of Gabelli’s advice resonated with Thomas Mitchell, a Gabelli School of Business junior. Mitchell plans to incorporate Gabelli’s risk arbitrage techniques in his own investing. “It was really cool to hear him talk about how anyone can do it,” Mitchell said. “It’s a simple strategy, you just have to be an analytic risk-taker.”

“Even with a retail account, I can still implement the strategy pretty effectively and do the research,” he said.

–Michael Garofalo

In a candid talk on Sept. 6 with the 2017 freshman class of the Gabelli School of Business, Mario J. Gabelli, chairman and CEO of GAMCO Investors, shared some of the secrets to his success.

Here are some of the self-made billionaire investor’s tips on how tomorrow’s leaders can use the next four years of their lives at Fordham as a stepping stone in the business world.

1. Accumulate knowledge

Whether he’s analyzing earnings-call transcripts, gathering insights from international analysts on his team, surveying the automotive industry, or getting to know executives affecting change, Gabelli is driven by intensive research. “What I do and our team does is assess talent—just like you’re assessing your professors and benefiting from their wisdom,” said Gabelli, who serves on the executive committee of the President’s Council at Fordham. “Learn about a business. Learn what makes it work, whether it’s a convenience gas station, investment business, or private equity firm. Learn the details.”

2. Learn to think

“Education is the great leveler, the engine of America’s meritocracy,” Gabelli said in 2010 after making a $25 million gift to school that now bears his name. For Gabelli, who graduated in 1965, that still rings true today. He encouraged students to view college as a testing ground for critical thinking. “The more you learn, the more flexible you’ll become, and the better off you’ll be,” he said. “Learn to think about what your options are, how you can execute them, and maximize the time that you’re here.”

3. Repurpose your fears

Fear is one of the biggest inhibitors of success, yet Gabelli has used his fears—of making mistakes, missing opportunities, and not getting details right—as motivators in his financial career. In fact, when he founded GAMCO Investors in 1977, it wasn’t the most opportune time to start a firm given the turbulent economy. “Everybody said, ‘You shouldn’t start a firm,’ and they probably were right, but that’s OK,” he said, telling the graduates to experience things for themselves and do what they love.

4. Get in the game

Although Gabelli is one of the country’s highest ranked money managers, the Bronx-born executive said he didn’t know anything about Wall Street until he got a job in his teens at a golf course frequented by financial analysts. “I decided to buy stocks at an early age,” he said. “And even when I went to high school and college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But I had exposure. So my recommendation is to get on the bus. Buy a stock. Get into the game, and then figure out who you’re going to call.”

5. Live in the future

Looking ahead is crucial in the financial industry, according to Gabelli, who invests in stocks at prices below their intrinsic values. “In anything you do in business or in life, don’t look at what things are doing today,” he said. “Look at where they are going to be a year from now or 10 years from now. Where are you going to be, and how do you position yourself to take advantage of that?” Ultimately, Gabelli, whose firm has also backed environmental, social, and governance investments, said it’s all about giving back. “You want to participate not only in what you’re doing for the planet, but [also in]returning what you have.”