“Father Schroth—Ray, as many of us knew him—was a towering figure at Fordham: he was a beloved professor, a treasured colleague, a lucid journalist and writer, and an insightful historian of the University and the Jesuits,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “He was wise, compassionate, and rigorous, and held his colleagues and students to his own very high standards. We will miss him greatly, and we will keep him and his loved ones in our prayers.”

Father Schroth received a bachelor’s degree from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 1955. In 1969, he returned to his alma mater as an associate professor who taught journalism in the communications department. During that time, he became the first person in University history to be granted tenure by the Faculty Senate, after initially being denied tenure by his department. The tense battle was covered by The New York Times, which referred to him as “probably the most popular teacher on campus.” He did earn tenure, thanks to a majority vote, student support, and the intervention of James C. Finlay, S.J., president of Fordham at the time. 

“Many of us on the Faculty Senate at the time, including myself, felt that a rejection by his tenured faculty in his department was not an appropriate decision. He was known by us to be a good teacher and a popular teacher,” recalled Robert Himmelberg, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history. 

For decades, Father Schroth taught American literature and journalism and/or served as academic dean at at least six universities. In 1979, Father Schroth left Fordham to become academic dean at Rockhurst University (formerly known as Rockhurst College) in Kansas City, Missouri. But almost two decades later, he returned to Fordham, where he served as assistant dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill from 1996 to 1999. 

In August 2016, he moved to Murray-Weigel Hall for health reasons. After experiencing a bad fall in 2017, he was confined to a wheelchair and “accepted reluctantly, but with faith, his disabilities,” read his obituary from the Jesuits USA Northeast Province. 

“I think of the different seasons of Ray’s life on that campus, from a young man in the ’50s to a young priest just beginning his work in the late ’60s, to this robust and storied presence in the ’90s. And now, in his last couple of years, a man who really suffered under the weight of age and infirmity,” said journalist Eileen Markey, FCRH ’98, past student and friend of Father Schroth’s who has served as an adjunct professor at Fordham. “All of those seasons on this campus really defined his life.”

‘At Heart Ray Is a Reporter’

Raymond Augustine Schroth was born in Trenton, New Jersey, on November 8, 1933, to Raymond Schroth, a journalist and U.S. Army veteran who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in World War I, and Mildred (née Murphy) Schroth, a teacher in the Trenton public and Catholic schools.

“Somehow I had made the basic decision inspired by both my parents’ lives: I wanted to write and teach, and that’s what Jesuits do,” he wrote in a 2007 story for the NJVoices column that reflected on his life. 

Father Schroth served for two years as an officer in the U.S. Army with an anti-aircraft battalion in West Germany, where he found his two vocations: the priesthood and journalism. In 1957, he joined the Society of Jesus and was ordained as a priest a decade later. He went on to earn two degrees in addition to his Fordham degree: a bachelor of sacred theology degree from Woodstock College, Maryland, in 1968, and a Ph.D. in American thought and culture from George Washington University in 1971. 

Journalism ran in his blood. His father served as an editorial writer for the Trenton Times, Brooklyn Eagle, and Philadelphia Record. His uncle, Frank D. Schroth, was the last publisher of The Brooklyn Eagle, according to a 1977 obit from The New York Times. 

For most of his life, Father Schroth followed in his family’s footsteps. He reported from 14 countries, including Syria and Russia, according to America magazine. In the U.S., he covered the aftermath of the Detroit riots and the 1968 Democratic National Convention, among other historic events.

Throughout his lifetime, Father Schroth authored eight books, including Fordham: A History and Memoir (Fordham University Press, 2008), a 300-page document that chronicles 137 years of the institution’s history. Other titles include The American Jesuits: A History (NYU Press, 2007) and Bob Drinan: The Controversial Life of the First Catholic Priest Elected to Congress (Fordham University Press, 2010). He published more than 300 articles and reviews that have appeared in multiple publications, including the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, the National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal, and Newsday. In 2010, he joined the editorial staff of America, where he served as literary and books editor until he retired in 2017 and received the title editor emeritus. 

“At heart Ray is a reporter. … [H]e has never forgotten that an important part of a reporter’s job—especially for a Catholic journalist—is to tell the stories of ordinary people, the folks in the pews or on the streets,” Matt Malone, S.J., editor in chief of America: The Jesuit Review and president of America Media, wrote in a 2017 story. 

In that piece, Father Malone quoted something Father Schroth wrote on teaching: “The first step in teaching moral values to young journalists is to get them to feel pain—not their pain, the pain of others. From that, other virtues—compassion, skepticism, courage and the like—might follow.”

Mentor to Students ‘From All Eras’

Father Schroth loved to tell stories. That was clear in the ’70s, if you entered his room and studied the walls, and even two years ago, in his room at Murray-Weigel Hall. 

“You could come into his living room and see posters about strikes or political events that were going on, or you could see these very of-the-moment nonfiction books,” recalled Jim Dwyer, FCRH ’79, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who writes for The New York Times. “For an 18- or 19-year-old, it was a portal from the protected world of the campus to the wider world beyond.” He shared that passion with his students, too. 

“There’s this fraternity of Ray’s students from all eras, people ranging from their mid-sixties down to those of us in our forties or thirties, and people at all kinds of publications all over the country,” said Markey.

Father Schroth urged students to fact-check official statements from powerful figures, past students recalled. He was a writer who despised the phrase “the fact that” and emphasized the importance of writing concisely. He taught young journalists to set high standards for themselves and their work, and he stressed the importance of using their stories as “a force for change,” said another alumna. 

“In the early ’70s, the thinking in journalism was that a reporter had to report both sides of the story and be this impartial person … He understood that view, but he also presented the view that journalism was a force for change and a voice for the underdog and the underprivileged,” said Loretta Tofani, FCRH ’75, a retired investigative journalist. 

Father Schroth introduced Tofani to the work of several investigative journalists who played a role in her Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé of prison rape for The Washington Post, she said. 

Exposing students to important works and history was a priority for Father Schroth. He convinced his colleagues to come up with an annotated list of the most significant 10 books they had read, which he shared with his students as a guide to life, said Roger Wines, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history. He spearheaded the “Great Walk,” an annual student trek between the Battery in Manhattan and the Rose Hill campus—a way to explore the city and show students parts of New York that they might not otherwise see, said past students. Father Schroth also refused to become a “stale” professor.

Dwyer recalled one summer when he returned to campus and found Father Schroth in his room in Martyrs’ Court, shredding sheets of handwritten looseleaf notes. 

“I’m tearing up my notes for the books I’m teaching this semester,” Father Schroth explained. 

“Why on Earth would you do that if you’re going to be teaching them in a couple weeks?” Dwyer asked. 

“To force myself to read the books anew, so I don’t become stale,” Father Schroth replied. 

Connecting Students ‘to a Wider World’

In phone interviews, past students and colleagues described “Ray” as a stellar journalist and stalwart friend. He occasionally clashed with students, faculty, and his more conservative Jesuit brethren, but stood up for what he thought was right and inspired scores of students to do the same, they said. 

“One of the things that was really singular about Ray is his combination of intense rigor, high expectations, and personal standards, mixed with a tremendous sweetness and warmth,” said Markey. “Sometimes we think of those as two different things … But Ray did both.” 

Father Schroth was a tall, lean man who stood so straight that it made you want to stand up straighter, said Markey. He was also an avid runner, bicyclist, and swimmer. At age 83, he walked for miles along the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage trail in Spain, as he recounted three years ago. He loved show tunes, especially songs sung by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, and persuaded his fellow pilgrims to sing with him as they trekked the Spanish countryside, said Dwyer. He also took his friendships very seriously. 

“On Holy Thursday every year, he would send an email to many of us, saying, ‘This is when Jesus gathered his friends together and said, do this in memory of me, and this is a ritual of friendship and community, and that’s what we are to each other.’” said Markey. 

Over the years, he created a box filled with index cards that listed the names of hundreds of friends and family members. Every time there was a birth, move, divorce, job change, or marriage, Father Schroth updated the cards. 

“He married students. He buried their parents and baptized their children. And he did all that for me,” said Dwyer. “But he did that for hundreds of people.” 

“He connected me to the world of journalism, which has been my life for the last 40 years,” Dwyer continued. “But the bigger thing that Ray did for me and thousands of others is connect us to a wider world. He taught us that friendship has to be looked after—that it has to be cultivated and nurtured.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the wake and funeral Mass for Father Schroth at Murray-Weigel Hall will be private. He will also have a private burial at the Jesuit Cemetery in Auriesville, New York. His family will have a public memorial Mass when it is possible. Notes of condolence may be sent to his nephew, Kevin Schroth, at 79 Bingham Avenue, Rumson, NJ  07760.

Gautschi comes to Fordham from the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in Troy, New York, where he has served since 2005 as dean and professor of marketing and business economics. He is also the acting director of the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship at RPI.

“It would be hard to overstate the importance of David Gautschi’s appointment as dean of GBA,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University. “Dr. Gautschi comes to us at a time when the Graduate School of Business Administration is poised to scale the heights. The coming years will bring many changes to the business landscape, along with many challenges and opportunities  for business educators. Dr. Gautschi’s leadership, his experience, and his wisdom make him the ideal candidate to guide GBA though the next decade.”

Gautschi, who earned a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley, has extensive experience in business and business education. He co-founded and managed the French firm PRISM, which offered marketing decision support systems and industry-specific market simulation models. Likewise, he was co-founder and co-managing partner at Janus Enterprise International, in Seattle, which provided contract research, management development, market systems analysis and research for clients in the United States, Europe and Asia. He was also firm director of the National eCenter and Management Solutions and Services for the West Sector at Deloitte & Touche LLP, and director of research at CCG Group LLC.

Under Gautschi’s leadership, the Lally School of Management  RPI effectively repositioned itself around technological innovation and entrepreneurship, finance and global business in the political economy.  There he oversaw an impressive increase in research productivity and worked closely with small faculty teams to create new interdisciplinary programs, including the M.S. in Financial Engineering and Risk Analytics and the M.S. in Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship.

At the Lally School he also engaged alumni and the business community in creative new partnerships, including the launch of an innovative roundtable on global business and technology in Wolfsberg, Switzerland, with international academic and business partners.

Gautschi began his academic career at the Graduate School of Business and Public Administration (now the Johnson Graduate School of Management) at Cornell University. He served as associate professor of marketing at the Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau, France, where he designed and directed various executive programs. He has also taught at the Theseus Institute in Sophia Antipolis, France, and at the School of Organization and Management at Yale University.

During his career, Gautschi has taught a broad range of courses at the M.B.A. and Ph.D. levels, in which he draws heavily on his research into the optimization of marketing decisions, choice models, and retailing and marketing systems, as well as his experience in industry and entrepreneurship. He served as associate professor and later professor of marketing and international business at the University of Washington’s School of Business Administration in Seattle, where he founded the school’s Global Information and Telecommunications Forum, and served as its faculty director. In 1997, he was named Kirby Cramer Scholar in Marketing and International Business and directed the Center for International Business Education and Research.

Gautschi will work closely with Donna Rappacioli, Ph.D., dean of the faculty of business and dean of the College of Business Administration.  He is strongly committed to exploring the role of the Schools of Business Administration within the University and, in particular, within a Jesuit institution whose commitment to social justice undergirds its highest aspirations.

“Dr. David A. Gautschi is exactly the kind of leader we’d hoped to find for GBA,” Freedman said. “He is not only a highly accomplished educator and administrator, but an entrepreneurial thinker and innovator. In him we gain a breadth of experience and an international perspective that will serve our students and faculty extremely well.”

Gautschi comes to Fordham from the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in Troy, New York, where he has served since 2005 as dean and professor of marketing and business economics. He is also the acting director of the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship at RPI.

“It would be hard to overstate the importance of David Gautschi’s appointment as dean of GBA,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University. “Dr. Gautschi comes to us at a time when the Graduate School of Business Administration is poised to scale the heights. The coming years will bring many changes to the business landscape, along with many challenges and opportunities  for business educators. Dr. Gautschi’s leadership, his experience, and his wisdom make him the ideal candidate to guide GBA though the next decade.”

Gautschi, who earned a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley, has extensive experience in business and business education. He co-founded and managed the French firm PRISM, which offered marketing decision support systems and industry-specific market simulation models. Likewise, he was co-founder and co-managing partner at Janus Enterprise International, in Seattle, which provided contract research, management development, market systems analysis and research for clients in the United States, Europe and Asia. He was also firm director of the National eCenter and Management Solutions and Services for the West Sector at Deloitte & Touche LLP, and director of research at CCG Group LLC.

Under Gautschi’s leadership, the Lally School of Management  RPI effectively repositioned itself around technological innovation and entrepreneurship, finance and global business in the political economy.  There he oversaw an impressive increase in research productivity and worked closely with small faculty teams to create new interdisciplinary programs, including the M.S. in Financial Engineering and Risk Analytics and the M.S. in Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship.

At the Lally School he also engaged alumni and the business community in creative new partnerships, including the launch of an innovative roundtable on global business and technology in Wolfsberg, Switzerland, with international academic and business partners.

Gautschi began his academic career at the Graduate School of Business and Public Administration (now the Johnson Graduate School of Management) at Cornell University. He served as associate professor of marketing at the Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau, France, where he designed and directed various executive programs. He has also taught at the Theseus Institute in Sophia Antipolis, France, and at the School of Organization and Management at Yale University.

During his career, Gautschi has taught a broad range of courses at the M.B.A. and Ph.D. levels, in which he draws heavily on his research into the optimization of marketing decisions, choice models, and retailing and marketing systems, as well as his experience in industry and entrepreneurship. He served as associate professor and later professor of marketing and international business at the University of Washington’s School of Business Administration in Seattle, where he founded the school’s Global Information and Telecommunications Forum, and served as its faculty director. In 1997, he was named Kirby Cramer Scholar in Marketing and International Business and directed the Center for International Business Education and Research.

Gautschi will work closely with Donna Rappacioli, Ph.D., dean of the faculty of business and dean of the College of Business Administration.  He is strongly committed to exploring the role of the Schools of Business Administration within the University and, in particular, within a Jesuit institution whose commitment to social justice undergirds its highest aspirations.

“Dr. David A. Gautschi is exactly the kind of leader we’d hoped to find for GBA,” Freedman said. “He is not only a highly accomplished educator and administrator, but an entrepreneurial thinker and innovator. In him we gain a breadth of experience and an international perspective that will serve our students and faculty extremely well.”

“New and creative thinking on healthcare management are necessary to engage rapidly evolving drug-development models, disruptive new technologies as well as concerns about healthcare affordability and access,” said Falguni Sen, Ph.D., professor of management systems and the center’s director. “There is a need to conduct more research and develop evaluation models in these areas.”

The goals of the center are to:

•    develop case studies on global healthcare innovations;
•    conduct research into how different management approaches affect the success of these innovations;
•    design educational programs for managers in charge of healthcare innovations; and
•    provide workshops and seminars for global policy makers, thought leaders and academics.

“GBA has been very pleased to assist in the creation of Professor Sen’s center,” said Robert Himmelberg, Ph.D., interim dean of GBA and co-dean of the business faculty. “Professor Sen has broad experience in healthcare innovation management. I am confident the center will rapidly become a leader in its field.

“The center will enable GBA to make a vital contribution to the development and adoption of managerial styles that foster efficient and socially responsible healthcare innovations,” Himmelberg said. “It is our hope that such innovations benefit relevant industries and enhance the public good on a global scale.”

The cost of introducing a new drug is as much as $1.2 billion, but globalization of the discovery and development process has the capability of reducing this cost by as much as 70 percent.

However, global development of innovations is very complex. The success of firms engaging in this strategy has not been established, said Sen, who has extensive experience analyzing drug discovery and development models, biotech innovation and healthcare delivery systems.

“Management strategy to drive healthcare innovation is not a well-developed discipline,” said Sen.

The center will examine topics such as pharmaceutical outsourcing, the creation of biotech clusters, emerging healthcare delivery systems and advances in health information technologies.

“Our initial focus will be on drug discovery and development beyond the United States, in countries such as India, China, Ireland, South Africa and Switzerland.”

The center is funded by Fordham University’s business program and contributions from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, clinical research organizations, healthcare provider organizations and others.

“The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) is pleased to be among the founding members of this important research center,” said Doug Peddicord, executive director of ACRO. “CROs are leading the way in innovative drug development models. Research around this topic is critically important to the future of the biopharmaceutical industry.”

Organizations interested in joining the center may contact Falguni Sen at (212) 636-6160.

Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D.

“I could not be more pleased that Donna Rapaccioli has accepted the position as dean of the business faculty,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “As she has done with the College of Business Administration, I am confident Dr. Rapaccioli will bring to this new role an abundance of leadership, integrity and common sense.”

Rapaccioli, the dean of CBA since January 2007, has been serving as co-dean of the business faculty alongside Robert Himmelberg, Ph.D, professor of history, and interim dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration. In her role of dean of business faculty, Rapaccioli will continue to promote Fordham as a premier institution for faculty excellence and enhanced scholarly research in fostering an accomplished and diverse faculty of close to 200 world class research scholars and industry experts.

In her 21 years as a full-time member of the business faculty, Rapaccioli has served as a dynamic leader who has made outstanding academic, administrative, and professional contributions to the Schools of Business Administration and the University community, said Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., senior vice president/chief academic officer at Fordham.
“During Dr. Rapaccioli’s time as dean and more recently as co-dean of the business faculty, she has proved to be a supremely able administrator,” Freedman said. “Her generous mentorship to faculty, her integrity and her record of achievement at CBA assure us that she is the right person to lead the faculty at Fordham’s Schools of Business Administration.”

In acknowledgement of her exceptional achievement as an educator and administrator, Rapaccioli will be appointed University Professor, Freedman added.

Rapaccioli earned her bachelor’s degree from Fordham University College of Business Administration in 1983 and the M.Phil (1986) and Ph.D. (1989) in accounting from New York University Stern School of Business. She has taught in the undergraduate and graduate business programs, including the Accelerated Executive MBA, and was recognized with the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005.

Rapaccioli was featured in a February 2009 BusinessWeek article, “Women Shattering B-Schools’ Glass Ceiling,” and has fostered an environment of scholarship and intellectual creativity at CBA. She has developed new and innovative courses, such as Global Financial Statement Analysis; launched a research seminar series; established an electronic working paper series and advocated for an increased number of faculty fellowships. She also led the development and implementation of a four-year global business honors program, new student advising programs, the undergraduate liberal arts core for CBA and the International Service Learning Program.

A skilled fundraiser, she has worked with the development team to raise over $11 million dollars toward the capital campaign and has expanded the number of alumni and corporate partners. She has also reached out to create strategic alliances with the external academic, civic, and business communities.

Rapaccioli’s research interests focus on earnings management and international accounting. She is the author of academic monographs and book chapters in these areas, as well as numerous articles for peer reviewed journals and practitioners. Rapaccioli also serves as an analyst advisor and lecturer for several investment banks in New York City, and she serves on the Board of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools.