September 19, 2007
Queens, N.Y. -
St. John’s University President, Rev. Donald J. Harrington,
C.M., presented former Chair of the Board of Trustees, Denis P.
Kelleher, with the Medal of Honor before family, friends and
colleagues this past weekend at The Lotos Club in Manhattan. The
Medal of Honor is the highest honor that the University bestows
upon an alumnus.
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Mr. Kelleher, a St. John’s University graduate of the College of
Business, has had a storied career on Wall Street, where he has
launched several remarkably profitable companies, including the
firm he currently heads as Chief Executive Officer, Wall Street
Access.
“Denis Kelleher has shaped St. John’s University as much as he
has been shaped by it,” said Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M. “The
University is stronger and better because of his leadership as
chair of the Board for the past seven years and as a trustee since
1990. He is most deserving of our highest honor as a loyal son of
alma mater.”
A strong advocate for St. John’s campus in his own “hometown” of
Staten Island, Mr. Kelleher’s name was forever etched in the fabric
of the University’s culture with the dedication of the Kelleher
Center on that campus in 2000. The honor is befitting of the
special role both he and his wife Carol have played in the life of
this University community.
That same year, Mr. Kelleher became the Chair of St. John’s
University’s Board of Trustees. He is only the second layperson in
the history of the institution to hold that office. Mr. Kelleher is
responsible for reshaping the Board of Trustees to include term
limits while revamping the committee structure. He also reinforced
St. John’s long-standing commitment to fiscal discipline by
emphasizing the importance of generating substantial surpluses so
as to assure future growth and stability.
“I am both humbled and proud to say that I am an example of the
fulfillment of St. John’s mission,” Mr. Kelleher has been known to
say. His belief in that mission led to a critical role, while
serving on the Board of Trustees, to increase leadership by the
laity and foster creative new ways of fulfilling the University’s
Vincentian tradition of service to the poor.
Ever mindful of his Irish roots, he was accorded perhaps the
greatest honor that can be given to someone of Irish decent when he
was named Grand Marshall of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day
Parade in 2005. He was also instrumental in bringing to the St.
John’s Queens campus political activist Gerry Adams, President of
Ireland’s Sinn Fein party to speak to the student body (February
2006) about the Irish peace process and served as host with Rev.
Harrington, C.M. in May of 2007 to welcome Mary McAleese, current
President of Ireland, who was given an Honorary Degree from St.
John’s University.
For more information contact Dominic Scianna, Director of Media
Relations by calling (718) 990-6185 or e-mail inquiries to sciannad@stjohns.edu.