The award, which is the Navy’s highest civilian honor, was presented to Byrne by Carlos Del Toro, secretary of the Navy, who said of Byrne, “His unwavering support of our nation’s veterans, paired with his belief in participation and his innovative initiatives and leadership, has greatly enhanced our Department of the Navy’s community engagement. His contributions to our military are incalculable.”

Byrne is the vice chairman of Penske Media Corporation, which owns Rolling Stone, Dick Clark Productions, and South by Southwest, among other brands. He also serves on the boards of numerous nonprofit organizations, including the Intrepid Museum, the USO, and Citymeals on Wheels.  

“Being recognized by the U.S. Navy is both an incredible honor and a humbling reminder of the importance of service,” Byrne said at the ceremony, which was held at the Penske Media Corporation headquarters. “Supporting our military and veteran communities is something I consider both a duty and a privilege.”

Supporting Fordham Veterans

Byrne was part of the Marine Corps’ Platoon Leaders Class throughout his college years, and after graduating from Fordham, he served on active duty from 1966 to 1969, with a tour in Vietnam in the final two years of his service.

Throughout his career, which includes stints as publisher of Variety and Crain’s New York Business, Byrne has remained dedicated both to Fordham and to efforts to help veterans—in higher education and beyond. In 2012, he founded Veterans Week NYC to honor and support veterans and their families, and in 2017, he established Veterans on Campus NYC, a consortium of New York City colleges and universities—including his alma mater—with students receiving tuition benefits under the GI Bill.

“Gerry is a staunch supporter of Fordham and Fordham veteran and military-connected students,” said Matthew Butler, senior director of military and veterans’ services at the University. Byrne has donated to academic and other initiatives that help the Fordham veteran community thrive at the University and in their post-military careers, and in 2019, he moderated an on-campus conversation with David G. Bellavia, the first living Iraq War veteran to receive the Medal of Honor.

Byrne was inducted into Fordham’s Military Hall of Fame in 2022, at an event that also marked the 175th anniversary of Fordham’s military legacy, which occurs through the ROTC programs and Fordham‘s commitment to serving veterans and their family members with the Yellow Ribbon program. He is also a former member of the Gabelli School of Business advisory council.

“What I learned at Fordham Prep and Fordham College from the Jesuits was ethics and integrity,” he said at the 2022 gathering. “In the Marine Corps, I learned discipline and leadership. When you combine it, it’s amazing what you get out of it.”

In November, Fordham was ranked No. 1 in New York and No. 23 nationwide in the “Best for Vets” rankings published by Military Times.

Among Fordham’s many rich traditions, the ringing of the Victory Bell outside the Rose Hill Gym holds special significance. The bell tolls at the start of every commencement, and it signals hard-fought wins in Fordham sports venues. In May 2019, the University’s Office of Military and Veterans’ Services instituted a bell-ringing ceremony to honor veterans in the graduating class.

Here’s your chance to brush up on the roots of these historic traditions.

Original use: The bell was a fixture on the Japanese aircraft carrier Junyo during World War II.

How it came to Fordham: Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who had received an honorary degree from the University in 1944, presented the bell to Fordham in 1946 and dedicated it as a memorial to “Our Dear Young Dead of World War II.”

First campus bellringer: U.S. President Harry S. Truman, visiting Fordham on May 11, 1946, to mark the University’s centenary under a New York state charter, was the first person to ring the bell in its new home on campus. Fordham presented Truman with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and in a speech, the president stressed the need to support higher education to “master the science of human relationships” and build peace throughout the world.

VIDEO: Watch this short 2016 piece on the history of the Fordham Victory Bell.

RELATED STORY: Celebrating 100 Years of Rose Hill Gym: A Thrilling Legacy

In addition, Fordham leaped to No. 57 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best colleges for veterans, released earlier this fall.

The two rankings reflect Fordham’s many efforts to meet all student veterans’ needs—from career development to health and wellness to help with the transition to college life, said Matthew Butler, PCS ’16, senior director of the Office of Military and Veterans’ Services at Fordham.

“We’re engaged on multiple fronts,” he said. “We’re not just offering an education but supporting the full student veteran life cycle.”

The recognition coincides with rising enrollment numbers for veterans: The number of new student veterans who enrolled at Fordham this fall is up 131% over fall 2023, and the 470 student veterans and veterans’ dependents now enrolled marks the highest total in at least five years, noted Andrea Marais, Fordham’s director of military and veteran higher education, engagement, and transition.

Free Tuition for Student Vets: No Cap

Likely important for the rankings, Butler said, was Fordham’s decision last year to eliminate its cap on tuition benefits under the federal government’s Yellow Ribbon Program/Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. The University covers 100% of tuition and fees for eligible student veterans or their dependents

He said the Military Times ranking was particularly welcome because of the publication’s presence on military bases and stations around the world. In its ranking, Military Times cited other things like Fordham’s Veterans Promise program, which guarantees undergraduate admission to the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS) for students who graduated from New York high schools with a 3.0 and meet other standards.

Butler also noted Fordham’s career-focused events for student veterans such as the Veterans on Wall Street symposium that Fordham will host on Nov. 7. “Veterans make great hires,” said Butler. “They can make good decisions under pressure, they know how to build a team, and they are not afraid of hard work.”

Commander’s Cup

The Military Times ranking closely follows an event that highlighted the University’s tightly knit military-connected community. On Saturday, Oct. 26, Fordham hosted nearly 700 students in Junior ROTC programs from 17 area high schools for the annual Commander’s Cup competition.

The event included drill competitions, physical fitness tests, and tours of Fordham’s Rose Hill campus, as well as opportunities to learn about the ROTC program at Fordham and its scholarship opportunities, said Lt. Col. Rob Parsons, professor of military science at Fordham.

Students at the event were able to see that there’s “an affordable way to go to school and continue to serve,” he said.

“I don’t think it can be overstated how robust and integrated the veterans community in New York is, and how many ties exist to Fordham and Fordham grads,” he said.

Student Veterans of America Build Community

Members of Fordham’s Student Veterans of America chapter volunteered at the event, fielding questions from JROTC members, said Rico Lucenti, a student in PCS and chapter member.

“A lot of kids came up to the booth asking about the veteran presence and military-connected families on Fordham’s campus and what Fordham is doing for those families and students,” he said.

Jorge Ferrara, a PCS student and SVA chapter president, said the chapter arranges service and social events that help student veterans transition to college.

“What we’re doing is trying to establish a sense of community and bring everybody together so everybody knows we’re all going through the same thing,” he said.

A Veterans Day Mass will be celebrated at the Rose Hill campus on Sunday, Nov. 10, the day before Veterans Day. Other upcoming events for Fordham’s student-veteran community include the RamVets Fall Social on Friday, Nov. 8.

Both changes, taking effect Aug. 1, ensure that eligible beneficiaries will always have their entire tuition covered at Fordham, as they do now, and will never have to worry about the University running out of seats for them.

The changes “underscore Fordham’s commitment to serving those who serve our country,” said Andrea Marais, Fordham’s director of military and veteran higher education, engagement, and transition.

Eliminating Worry for Veterans

The cap removals are expected to clear up confusion about Fordham’s support for student veterans. For years, the University has covered 100% of tuition and fees for eligible Yellow Ribbon beneficiaries, who also receive a government stipend for books and living expenses.

But service members may never find out about these benefits. Checking out Fordham’s Yellow Ribbon program on the government’s website, they sometimes give up after seeing the caps on tuition coverage and enrollment—even though neither limit has ever been reached.

“Some people may be deterred by the cap, not realizing that our tuition falls below it,” Marais said. “And the posted limit on applicants may sow doubt as well, since there’s no way to know whether the limit has been reached. This announcement eliminates all of that uncertainty.”

Yellow Ribbon Program + G.I. Bill = Full Tuition Coverage

Through the Yellow Ribbon Program, the government partners with private universities to give added funding to veterans who qualify for the full tuition amount ($27,120 per year) offered under the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill.

Fordham’s tuition benefit cap was so high that the University never needed to turn away any eligible veteran—and with the cap gone, it won’t ever need to. That’s good news for service members dealing with financial jitters, said Matthew Butler, PCS ’16, senior director of Fordham’s Office of Military and Veterans Services.

“Veterans aren’t in the position to take any chances” when considering their college costs as they’re transitioning out of the military, he said, also noting that Yellow Ribbon beneficiaries at Fordham receive one of the highest housing allowances in the country.

Michael Condit, a former Army infantryman and recruiter who just completed his bachelor’s degree in economics at Fordham’s School of Professional and Continuing Studies, said veterans may also be looking for a reason to rule themselves out, thinking “oh, I’m not a college person.”

“When you hear that there are caps and restrictions, you might [think], ‘Well, I don’t want to get in line just to be told ‘no,’” he said.

Supportive Community

Assimilating into Fordham after five years of active duty in the Army was “a great experience,” said Miguel Angel-Sandoval, a senior majoring in Real Estate with a minor in economics in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies and a candidate in Fordham’s ROTC program. He’ll be graduating in May with a job already secured at RSM real estate consulting agency.

He was welcomed by members of Fordham’s Student Veterans of America chapter and others who helped erase any feeling of discomfort at being an older student. Coming to Fordham “was the best decision I’ve ever made,” he said.

To learn more about military benefits and opportunities at Fordham, please contact the Fordham Veterans Center at [email protected] or call (212) 636-6433.

“The Military Ball is a time to celebrate Fordham’s proud and historic military legacy and to remember those from Fordham who have given the full measure of devotion while serving in the military in the last 175 years,” said Matthew Butler, senior director of the University’s Office of Military and Veterans’ Services.

“Making the transition from the military is not an easy feat. We know this,” said Matthew Butler, a former master sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps who now serves as senior director of Fordham’s Office of Military and Veterans’ Services, in his address to students and alumni at one of the events. “And we want to give you all the support and preparation needed to make sure you land the job that you want.” 

Networking with the FBI, Morgan Stanley, and NBC Universal

About 140 student veterans and alumni from 11 schools attended Veterans Career Day and Student Veteran Internship and Career Fair at the Lincoln Center campus. At Veterans Career Day on Oct. 4, students and alumni took free LinkedIn headshots, polished their resumes, and practiced their elevator pitch with industry professionals, some of whom were student veterans themselves. The next day, they attended the internship and career fair, held specifically for student veterans, where they had the opportunity to network with representatives from more than 30 organizations, including L’Oreal, the Federal Reserve Board, Morgan Stanley, the FBI, and NBC Universal. 

Both undergraduate and graduate students from varied disciplines, including art history, economics, and finance, came to the career fair. 

Among them was Steven Gutierrez, 32, an MBA student at the Gabelli School of Business. Gutierrez was born and raised in the Bronx and went on to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps for about a decade. He was dispatched all over the world—to Afghanistan, Central America, France, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, and other locations—where he served as a radio technician and officer. He now works in Fordham’s Career Center as the veterans career liaison, where he helps his peers navigate the next chapter of their lives—charting their career path. 

“Typically, student veterans have worldwide experience. They bring with them discipline and accountability. The experience that they had in any of the services, it’s translatable and needed,” said Gutierrez, who plans on becoming a consultant. 

From Serving as an Airborne Combat Medic to Studying at Fordham

Glenmore Marshall, a student at Fordham’s School of Professional and Continuing Studies, attended both Veterans Career Day and the Student Veteran Internship and Career Fair.

“I came to this event to find a way to better myself,” said Marshall, 37, who was born in Jamaica and grew up in the U.S. “I want to put my best foot forward and see what’s out there.” 

After attending several workshops at Veterans Career Day, he said he realized that he was “underselling” his two years of experience as a U.S. Army airborne combat medic. 

“I have a lot of skills I’m not showing to employers: specific skills like leadership, attention to detail, and being able to work under extremely stressful situations. As a combat medic, for example … I have to do blood transfusions. … I had to do one on a lieutenant in a Humvee in the middle of nowhere before,” said Marshall, who served in several states across the U.S., including North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas. “This [career readiness]workshop helped me realize … that I should utilize my background as a veteran to my advantage and not undersell myself.” 

At the fair, Marshall—an information and technology major who is looking for a job or an internship—spoke with representatives from several organizations, including the Peace Corps and IPG Health. “More people should come out to this type of thing because even if you don’t necessarily get hired or get the job, the experiences you get from today, you can apply elsewhere and realize the soft skills that you didn’t know you had,” said Marshall, who aims to become a technician or consultant.  

Providing Opportunities for the Larger Community

Miguel-Angel Sandoval, 30, a senior real estate major at PCS and vice president of Student Veterans of America at Fordham, said the Student Veteran Internship and Career Fair was his first-ever career fair. 

“A lot of the representatives of these corporations were welcoming and willing to have a conversation with you, understand who you are … and how they can get you to fit in there,” Sandoval said. “They want to see you excel. They want to see you employed, so they’re willing to do the extra work in getting to know you as well as you getting to know them.” 

Sandoval added that he is “forever grateful for Fordham.” 

“Fordham does everything it can to provide every opportunity to all its students, no matter who they are—student veterans or regular traditional students,” said Sandoval, who served in the U.S. Army for more than five years in South Korea and West Point, and is still serving as an Army ROTC cadet. “Over 30 employers came out specifically to speak to us, and I think it’s a blessing.” 

The events were co-sponsored by Fordham’s Office of Military and Veterans’ Services, Fordham’s Career Center, Student Veterans of America at Fordham, and multiple outside partners and institutions, including Columbia University, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Pace University, Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC, RSM US LLP, Baker Tilly, and Jetro Restaurant Depot.  

“We open our doors to our fellow veterans because we know having hope and purpose in the future is an antidote to the inevitable dark days ahead or when the road gets rough,” said Butler. “A job can be the thing [where]one finds both purpose and a better future, while continuing to serve others and paying it forward.” 

“The Military Ball is a time to celebrate Fordham’s proud and historic military legacy and to remember those from Fordham who have given the full measure of devotion while serving in the military in the last 175 years,” said Matthew Butler, senior director of the University’s Office of Military and Veterans’ Services.

The ball is also an opportunity for attendees to reconnect with the military-connected community, not only from Fordham, but also the New York City area. Two alumni will be honored for their service: Warren T. Gregory, FCRH ’66, a Bronze Star and Vietnam Air medal recipient, and Stephanie Ramos, Fordham Army ROTC ’05, now an ABC News network correspondent and major in the U.S. Army Reserve. In addition, attendees will have the chance to sponsor a current student veteran or cadet. 

“Members of our armed forces and veterans operate on very low budgets, and being able to attend a formal military ball might be a once-in-a-lifetime event for them—certainly one that they would remember for years to come,” said Andrea Marais, Fordham’s director of military and veteran higher education, engagement, and transition. 

The ball is open to members of the Fordham community, including alumni, veteran alumni, parents of cadets, cadets, student veterans, and those who support the veteran and military community. Proceeds will help student veterans, ROTC cadets, and other members of the Fordham student military community to pay for academic, social, and career transition programming.

The deadline to purchase an ad for the printed dinner journal is Oct. 6. Tickets for the ball are on sale through Oct. 29. Register online. 

That’s just the kind of fund Sgt. Joseph Collins would have wanted to support, according to his sister.

Margaret Collins, M.D., TMC ’72, recently supported the fund by donating $25,000 from a life insurance annuity that Joseph left behind when he died in 2001. Recalling what he and their brother, John, went through after serving in the Vietnam War, she said today’s veterans “shouldn’t be burdened with not having what the government promises to give them. That’s just not right.”

Still, it happens with some regularity, said Matthew Butler, PCS ’17, senior director of military and veterans’ services at Fordham.

Student Vets on Tight Budgets

The government’s Post-9/11 G.I. Bill payments can be delayed or scheduled to arrive after the bills are due, causing headaches for student veterans who often have “very little margin of error” financially and have to make difficult choices as a result, Butler said.

“We’ve seen a few students that have made those decisions between getting a MetroCard or putting food on their table for the family,” he said.

The emergency fund offers student vets microloans or emergency grants. It’s one fundraising effort launched last year as part of the yearlong celebration of 175 years of military training at Fordham. The fund dovetails with the student wellness and success priority of the University’s $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student.

Collins said her brother would have been pleased to help veterans, including those “who are trying to complete a college education and to begin a second career, and who can add so much, and do add so much, to our society.” She is also funding a scholarship for student veterans in Joseph’s name.

Lives of Service

Joe Collins served with “Dustoff” helicopter crews that evacuated the wounded from combat zones, and his brother, Capt. John Collins, M.D., FCRH ’55, served as an Army surgeon and head of a surgical research team.

Both suffered post-traumatic stress, Joe to a greater extent, and came away from the war anguished at how it was being conducted, said Collins, a pediatric pathologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

The siblings grew up in the Bronx. Joe graduated from Fordham Preparatory School and briefly attended Fordham University before he was drafted into the Army. He later earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Lehman College after retiring from the Army around 1990 and worked as a teacher in Brooklyn and in San Francisco.

During his time in Vietnam, John Collins, who died in 1992, made discoveries that improved treatment of wounded soldiers—finding that the practice of adding bicarbonate to banked blood supplies could be harmful, and also showing the need to address respiratory distress, or “shock lung,” when treating traumatic injuries.

In separate conversations with her, Collins said, her brothers each hailed the other’s courage: John praised Joe for traveling in helicopters that landed in combat zones, and Joe commended John for riding with ambulance crews to reach wounded soldiers sooner, even though the ambulances were “sitting ducks” in the exposed plains around Saigon.

Hearing them talk, “I decided that a hero is the guy who always sees that somebody else did more,” she said. “Somebody else had more danger. Somebody else really braved it.”

Learn more here about Fordham’s services and supports for student veterans and military-connected students. 

To inquire about giving in support of student veterans at Fordham, please contact Patrick Russell, director of development, at [email protected]. Learn more about Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student and make a gift. 

In an address to the 23 graduating seniors, Matt Butler, PCS ’16, director of military and veterans’ services at Fordham, said they were “added to that legacy” because of their achievements in the armed services and at Fordham.

“As military-connected students, you have demonstrated incredible strength and courage, balancing the demands of military service, post-military service, and the pursuit of academic excellence,” he said. He also lauded them for “taking extra steps to go beyond what is required of you to support your fellow Fordham students, to support your families, to support your communities.”

A ‘Deep and Broad Community’

Fordham’s military-connected students include veterans, active-duty service members, reservists, National Guard members, and service members’ spouses and children. The annual ceremony honoring them began four years ago. As in years past, it began in Keating Hall, with each student receiving a yellow ribbon medallion before everyone walked to the nearby Victory Bell and gave it a ring.

The guest speaker, Gerry Byrne, FCRH ’66, a prominent media executive and entrepreneur, recounted his Vietnam War experience as “a 23-year-old officer with 44 19-year-old [Marines] that are looking at me as God and hoping that my decisions will allow them to be around at the end of the day.”

He likened the experience to receiving “a master’s degree in leadership.” And he spoke of how his life’s pursuits constantly brought him into contact with other veterans and showed him how extensive America’s military-connected community is.

“When you think about this community that you’re a part of, just think about it in a way that is deep and broad,” he told the graduates. “It is a gigantic community that just needs to be better recognized.”

175th Anniversary of Military Service

This year, Fordham’s ROTC and student veteran leaders are trying to bring Fordham’s military-connected community closer together through an outreach effort, part of a yearlong campaign marking the 175th anniversary of military service at Fordham.

“Fordham’s men and women have defended the Constitution in every clime and place since 1848, when New York state issued Fordham 12 muskets … to defend the school against xenophobic mobs,” Butler said.

Later that century, Fordham graduate James Rowan O’Bierne, who led the capture of President Lincoln’s assassin, orchestrated a formal partnership between Fordham and the Army, which extended into today’s ROTC program, Butler said. By World War II, Fordham was producing more Army officers than West Point was, he said.

He also added a detail to the story of Fordham’s Victory Bell, originally part of a Japanese warship sunk during World War II and given to Fordham by Admiral Chester Nimitz to commemorate the University’s wartime sacrifices. Students had actually petitioned the general for some recognition of those sacrifices, given that approximately 223 people from Fordham lost their lives in World War II, Butler said.

He noted the many distinguished alumni in the University’s Hall of Honor who served in the military—a New York governor, a four-star general, Medal of Honor winners, business executives. “Graduates, let this be an inspiration to you as you add to this deep story of service and sacrifice,” he said.

Register here to be connected with others in Fordham’s military-affiliated community.

Tradition holds that Fordham’s military heritage dates from 1848, when the state of New York issued Fordham 12 muskets for defense against the threat of nativist rioters, noted Lt. Col. Paul Tanghe, Ph.D., professor of military science at Fordham, at the Nov. 6 event at the Rose Hill campus. Today, the University is home to a military service community comprising “one of the most diverse [ROTC] cadet battalions in the Northeast” and more than 400 students who are veterans, he said, noting the University’s reputation for being welcoming to them.

“The military-connected community is one of the things that makes Fordham special,” he said. “This is a community that’s built around individual paths of service coming together in one place.”

Efforts to honor, support, and grow that community will be part of the yearlong anniversary celebration.

The Office of Military and Veterans’ Services and the Department of Military Science will host two events per month from January through November, with each month’s events organized around a chapter of military history at Fordham. January’s events include a service project—in partnership with Campus Ministry—related to welcoming immigrants, harking back to the origins of Fordham’s military training in 1848. Events in later months will commemorate the Civil War, Vietnam War, World War I, and other epochs, culminating in a gala to be held in November 2023.

There is also a “military muster” outreach effort to Fordham’s military community—ROTC graduates, student and alumni veterans, faculty and staff who served, and friends and family of Fordham veterans—to reengage them with the University. In addition, the veterans’ services office will lead an effort to raise $4.2 million to support ROTC cadets and student veterans as part of Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, the University’s $350 million fundraising campaign.

The veterans’ services campaign received some impromptu support at the Nov. 6 event, which celebrated two distinguished alumni veterans as well as the ROTC program and student-veteran community at Fordham.

Two Who Served with Valor

Attendees included alumni, student veterans, and cadets in Fordham’s ROTC program, a flagship program in the Northeast comprising cadets who attend 17 New York-area schools, from New York University to the Parsons School of Design, Tanghe said.

Two alumni veterans were inducted into the Fordham University Military Hall of Fame: William E. Kotas, FCRH ’69, a graduate of Fordham’s ROTC program, onetime U.S. Army captain, and Vietnam War veteran, who was honored posthumously; and retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Gerry Byrne, FCRH ’66, a Vietnam War veteran, media executive, community leader, and entrepreneur.

Kotas, who died last year, served as a platoon leader with the 23rd Infantry Division. He was inducted in honor of “the way that he approached all of his duties and obligations to others in his life,” from his cadet years to his post-Army life, Tanghe said.

“His military service was shorter than he wanted it to be because of the manner in which he approached it”—that is, with devotion to the soldiers under his command, Tanghe said.

In a display of that devotion, he personally led a patrol during which he suffered grievous injuries that would require a year of hospitalization and medical retirement from the Army. At the time of his injury, he continued to lead his men and directed them to safety. Kotas received multiple military honors, including the National Defense Service Medal, the Parachute Badge, and the Bronze Star Medal with the “V” device to denote heroism.

Moving back to Nashville, Tennessee, “he continued to find a life of purpose and meaning,” Tanghe said. Kotas was a founding member of the St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church in Nashville and taught in its adult education program on Sundays, among other community activities, and worked for the U.S. Postal Service until his retirement.

Byrne, a 1962 graduate of Fordham Preparatory School, was commissioned via the Marine Corps’ Platoon Leaders Class, which he attended while earning his degree from Fordham College at Rose Hill. He served on active duty from 1966 to 1969, including a tour in Vietnam spanning  the latter two years.

“What I learned at Fordham Prep and Fordham College from the Jesuits was ethics and integrity,” he told the gathering. “In the Marine Corps, I learned discipline and leadership. When you combine it, it’s amazing what you get out of it.”

Byrne has had a distinguished career in media, serving as launch publisher of Crain’s New York Business, creator and chairman of NBC’s Quill Awards, and publisher of Variety, leading its transformation into a diversified global media brand. Today he is vice chairman of Penske Media.

He has hosted a Marine Corps birthday celebration in New York City for the past 25 years, and in 2009, he received the Made in New York Award from then-mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Byrne serves on the boards of nonprofits too numerous to name, including the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. He learned the value of staying busy, he said, from the famed television producer Norman Lear, who, during a conversation about packed schedules, told him that “life is not a rehearsal.”

“When I go back and think about friends and fellow marines who don’t have the ability to stand here like I am, it’s very moving,” said Byrne, who attended the event with some friends from the Corps and his wife, Liz Daly Byrne.

He said he was “extraordinarily honored” to be inducted into the Hall of Fame “and to be a Fordham graduate, and to see … everyone who’s here today.”

A Fundraising Campaign Begins

The fundraising campaign announced at the event has three components:

• An Emergency Relief Fund to promote wellness for military-connected students and provide loans to help students through financial distress ($100,000 goal)
• An endowment to enrich ROTC cadets’ and student veterans’ education by sending them to events and conferences, bringing guest speakers to campus, and providing gear needed for new training opportunities ($1.75 million goal)
• A drive to create a facility at Rose Hill for student veterans and cadets that promotes inclusion, community, collaboration, and information sharing, in part through new digital resources ($2.3 million goal)

Tanghe noted that the Emergency Relief Fund will provide microloans to help students who, for instance, might be unable to meet monthly living expenses on time, because their veterans’ benefit payments are held up by bureaucratic snafus. “If you’re missing a month of rent in New York City, that can be a significant financial burden,” Tanghe said at the Nov. 6 event.

Matthew Butler, PCS ’17, Fordham’s director of military and veterans’ services, said the fundraising effort has gotten off to a strong start, with one donor contributing $25,000 in mid-October.

During a follow-up meeting, the donor wrote another check, for $70,000, Butler said.

That’s when Byrne spoke up—“Liz and I will throw in the other five” needed to bring the tally up to an even $100,000, he said.

Asked later about his spontaneous decision to donate, he gave a simple reason.

“It’s supporting Fordham and veterans,” he said. “There’s no better reason than that.”

Register here to be connected with others in Fordham’s military-affiliated community.

To inquire about supporting the Office of Military and Veterans’ Services fundraising campaign, please contact Michael Boyd, senior associate vice president for development and university relations, at 212-636-6525 or [email protected]. Learn more about Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, a campaign to reinvest in every aspect of the Fordham student experience.