“Our hearts go out to John and the Tognino family. It was a great gift to know Norma Tognino. She was a woman of deep faith, deep strength, and great warmth,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Norma was beloved by the Fordham community, and indeed by anyone who had the great good fortune to know her. She was generous, funny, and a great friend to Fordham. We will all miss her, and she—and the Tognino family—will be in our prayers always.”

Together with her husband, Norma was among the University’s most significant donors, making major gifts to support scholarships and special-needs students. In 2007, Fordham named Tognino Hall in Duane Library in the couple’s honor.

A Warm, Reliable Presence

Norma could always be counted on to attend Fordham functions and enliven the festivities with her joyful spirit. Many in the Fordham community recalled her warmth, her down-to-earth attitude, and her penchant for making them laugh. But Norma has been missed for the last year and a half; in July 2017 she was involved in a car accident, and since then had suffered through a series of ailments.

“Until she was hospitalized, Norma never missed a Fordham event; she was a treasured member of the Fordham family,” said Robert D. Daleo, chair of the Board of Trustees. “We will miss her warmth and kindness, and her unflagging support for the University and its students, faculty, and staff. The Board of Trustees sends its love and profound condolences to the Tognino family, and hopes that Norma’s memory will forever be a comfort.”

Bronx Roots

Norma was born on July 1, 1940, to Ernestine and Ralph Borrelli, a barber. She grew up on Burke Avenue in the Bronx with three brothers, Paul, Anthony, and Ralph, all of whom worked for IBM, and all of whom predeceased her.

She and John met at a dance at St. Phillip Neri church, his parish. They married in November 1959. Later, when he was attending Fordham’s School of Professional and Continuing Studies in the evenings, she was “extremely” supportive and played an “intricate role” in his success, said John, a trader who currently owns Pepper Financial Group. His career included 36 years at Merrill Lynch, as well as terms as president and chief executive officer of the Security Traders Association and executive vice president and head of Global Sales and Member Affairs at Nasdaq. He was Fordham’s board chair from 2004 to 2012 and is a current trustee emeritus.

“Norma had a deep affection for Fordham,” he said, that began during his years as a student and continued until her death.

‘A Great Enthusiast’

Throughout her life, Norma nurtured a love for the piano. She took lessons as a young girl and later studied at Juilliard and the London School of Music when she and John lived in London from 1988 to 1991.

“She was very shy and she would never play to show off; she would enjoy playing when no one was around,” John said. “She played mostly classical music.”

John and Norma had three children: Katherine; John Jr.; and Michael, a 1992 Fordham Gabelli School of Business graduate. When they were young, Norma was very active in their public schools in Ardsley, New York, where the Togninos had moved after spending their first six or seven years of married life in the Bronx. Norma also served as a member of the women’s auxiliary at Our Lady of Perpetual Help church in Ardsley. The couple eventually made their home in Bronxville, and when her children were grown, Norma worked as a furniture buyer in Westchester.

“She was devoted to her family,” John said. “She was a great enthusiast with great respect for everyone.”

A Love of Travel

That enthusiasm was evident on the many international trips–several to Italy– that the couple took with Fordham’s Board of Trustees, when Norma would often gather the group for fun dinners and lead the way on shopping excursions.

“You could always count on her and John for a great time and a lot of warmth and hospitality and genuine friendship,” said former trustee Pat Nazemetz, TMC ’71, GSAS ’89, who, together with her husband, Jim, socialized with the Togninos in Westchester and traveled with them as well.

“When we traveled, Norma could always be relied on for finding the best shops and doing lots of power shopping when we had any kind of breaks from sightseeing,” said Nazemetz.

Patrick Ryan, S.J., Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham, accompanied the Togninos on a trip to the Amalfi Coast.

“They were my hosts. We had an awful lot of fun,” he said, adding that Norma “was very unpretentious, very warm, had not lost the common touch at all.”

Father Ryan also played a part in toasting the couple for their 50th wedding anniversary, which they celebrated with a party in Tognino Hall in 2009.

“I made up a song for that,” he said. “It was sung to the tune of Ode to Joy.”

It began: “Sing with me a song of Norma:/ Fifty years ago today/ She was wed, not just pro forma/ To the guy she brought to bay.

And a later verse, calling out the unassuming nature for which the couple was known:

“Keep us mindful, God our Father/ Of the way their parents toiled/ Making sure, for all the bother/ Each grew straight and was not spoiled.”

Nazemetz, now a trustee fellow, said that in the nearly 20 years that she has known the Togninos, Norma “has always been [John’s] rock.”

“She was a kind, caring, giving person. I think of her as the big sister we all like to have,” she said. “She was sensitive and thoughtful, but she also had a toughness about her.”

Whatever struggles she might have been going through—a fall or an illness, for example, “it never wore her down,” Nazemetz said.

One time, Nazemetz and Norma were discussing whether they should go to Las Vegas, which Norma loved, or travel to Italy.

“Her comment to me was, ‘I want to do it all.’ She had a very can-do attitude and spirit, and always made people feel welcomed.” Though the Togninos were people of means, Nazemetz said, “you never got any of that vibe.”

“It was just, ‘I’m that kid from the Bronx who met my husband in the Bronx, and those are our roots, and we’re proud of them and we’re proud to be part of the team.’”

In addition to John, Norma is survived by her children, Katherine Albanese and her husband, Mark; John Jr. and his wife, Teri; and Michael and his partner, Jennifer, and the Togninos’ five grandchildren, Christopher, John III, Michael Jr., Joseph, and Isabella.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, Dec. 7, at 11 a.m. at the University Church on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. There will not be a wake. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Tognino Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at Fordham or to the Alexander Tognino Foundation, 547 Saw Mill River Road, Ardsley, NY 10502.

Thanks to the generosity of two dedicated donors, Fordham has just significantly strengthened its commitment to science education.

On Sept. 26, the University installed three accomplished scholars as new faculty chairs in the STEM fields: Silvia C. Finnemann, Ph.D., a Fordham biology professor whose research focuses on eye-cell function; Hans-Joachim Hein, Ph.D., a Fordham math professor who has earned international recognition for his geometry research, and Joshua A. Schrier, Ph.D., a chemistry professor and researcher who recently joined Fordham’s faculty from Haverford College. The three assumed the Kim B. and Stephen E. Bepler Chairs in Biology, Mathematics, and Chemistry, respectively.

“This evening’s ceremony and installation of the new Bepler STEM faculty chairs redefines what it means to study the sciences at Fordham,” said Frederick J. Wertz, Ph.D., interim dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center.

The endowed professorships not only bolster Fordham’s commitment to the STEM fields—they also reshape the legacy of the donors who made them possible: the late Steve Bepler, FCRH ’64, and Kim Bepler.

“Kim and Steve’s dedication to advancing the sciences has and will continue to foster countless opportunities for future generations of talented Fordham students eager to transform the world in which we live,” said Wertz.

Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, said the couple were among “the most remarkably generous supporters the University has ever known.”

The chairs were funded using part of a $10.5 million gift made by Steve’s estate and Kim in July 2017. The gift also funded a chair in physics, which has yet to be filled.

A Salute to Kim and Steve Bepler

Fifty-four years ago, Steve Bepler graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill. He rose to become senior vice president of Capital Research Global Investors, received an honorary doctorate from Fordham, and served as a University trustee. His widow, Kim, serves as a Fordham honorary trustee fellow. 

“Kim Bepler has devoted much of her time to philanthropy since retiring in 2002 as director of business development at Cahners Travel Group,” said Mast. “The Beplers’ legacy and incredible impact on our students’ lives and education continues to thrive and live on through Kim.”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said Kim shared Steve’s enthusiasm and at times, he said, “I think she was the person who sparked his enthusiasm.” 

Together, the couple made many significant gifts that will benefit Fordham students for years to come. They established two other endowed chairs—one in theology, the other in poetics; created scholarships; helped restore the University Church; and supported several programs across the University. Next month marks two years since Steve’s untimely passing in 2016.

“I often teased Steve when he was alive that he was one of the few people who said a prayer for generosity, and God heard his prayer,” said Father McShane, to a round of laughter.

Kim said her husband was generous, but he shied away from the spotlight.

“He would have frankly taken great exception to naming the STEM chairs after him. So, Father, when you get to heaven, you have some explaining to do,” she said. The crowd chuckled.

Father McShane recounted a memory of Steve wandering through the Rose Hill bookstore. The clerk, wondering if he was the father of a student, asked if he needed help. Steve declined, but when he continued to meander, the clerk returned. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Steve, with his disarming honesty, said, ‘Look, there are so many books I didn’t read when I was in college, I’m trying to make up for it now,’” Father McShane recalled. “He was not only a person who lived to be generous. He lived to learn.”

“May your lives, personal and professional, be marked by similar passions: passion for family, passion for education and the openness to discoveries every day,” Father McShane said, looking directly at the three honorees. “Live to be generous—with your talents, with your wisdom, with your love of learning.”

The Three Faculty Chairs

From eye health to quantum gravity to energy technology, the work of the new Bepler chairs spans several scientific disciplines.

Finnemann’s research has shed light on what causes blindness and how it can be prevented. Specifically, it focuses on the cell biology and diseases of the eye, particularly age-related macular degeneration—the most common cause of adult blindness in the United States. Her work has led to more than 50 publications in widely acclaimed international journals. At Fordham, she has helped the biology department obtain critical grant support from the National Institutes of Health, and she received the 2013 Fordham Award for Excellence in Teaching. She serves on the editorial board of Nature’s Scientific Reports and consults for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/NIH.

Hein’s research on quantum theories of gravity was published in the most selective journal in mathematics. He is one of the world’s leading experts on gravitational instantons—a key concept in quantum theories of gravity—and has earned international recognition for his research in differential geometry. Hein has held appointments at Imperial College London, the University of Nantes, the University of Maryland, and as of 2016, Fordham.

Schrier’s expertise is in the computational design of new materials in information and energy technology. He has authored 44 peer-reviewed papers and secured more than $8.6 million in external funding. Schrier was a Fulbright scholar at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin and a Luis W. Alvarez postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This is his first year at Fordham.

After accepting their engraved medals, the three new chairs explained their research under the 47-foot-high sloped ceiling and stained-glass window of Tognino Hall. They used layman’s lingo and pictures: a purple cross-section of a human eye, a crumpled piece of graph paper that illustrated warped space, the iconic black-and-white shot of Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue, and robots with googly eyes.

Salma Youssef, FCRH ’20, the student speaker at the event, said that the new professorships enhanced math and science education at Fordham.

“Having access to such innovative, forward-thinking professors is a major reason why the STEM fields at Fordham are thriving and growing,” said Youssef, a George and Mary Jane McCartney Research Fellow. “Seeing faculty supported by Fordham donors like the Beplers is inspiring to all students like me who want to pursue academia and scientific research.”

Over the past 15 years, Fordham’s number of endowed chairs has more than tripled to reach 71, including the new Bepler chairs.

“Steve believed a world-class university should have a world-class science program,” Kim said. “We are on our way.”

Next week, Fordham University will pay tribute to social innovation and social entrepreneurship in an event that will celebrate a new endowed chair and honor a business alumnus.

Celebration of the William J. Loschert Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship
“Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship:
Reimagining Jesuit Higher Education as Tackling Global Problems and Equipping Agents of Positive Social Change”

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014 | 6 p.m.
Tognino Hall | Duane Library
Rose Hill Campus

The evening’s speaker will be Jeff Snell, Ph.D., founder of Midwest Social Innovation LLC and co-founder of Midwest Consortium for Social Innovation. His talk will demonstrate how the up-and-coming field of social innovation aligns with the values at the heart of Jesuit education.

Snell, a former special advisor to the president of Marquette University, is also the founder of Marquette’s nationally recognized Social Innovation Initiative. In this role, he led Marquette to become one of the first ten Changemaker Campus members. The international consortium is born out of a partnership with Ashoka, the largest global network of social entrepreneurs, and includes Fordham, Boston College, Brigham Young, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Middlebury, Tulane, Universidad de Monterrey, and University of Northampton, among others.

The Loschert Chair in Entrepreneurship is one of five chairs established in the Schools of Business by a matching gift challenge. The challenge was part of a transformative $25 million gift to Fordham given by Mario Gabelli, GSB ’65, in 2011.

Contact: Joanna Mercuri
(212) 636-7175
[email protected]