History

General Robert H. Reed, U.S. Air Force (ret.) is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and a veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Robert Harvey Reed was born in Elkhorn City, Kentucky on October 10, 1929. Reed launched his Air Force career as an aviation cadet in 1952 at a time in our history when demand for pilots was greatly outpacing the supply.

Reed completed his initial pilot training in Arizona in 1952, which earned him a commission as a Second Lieutenant and a seat at the F-94C All-Weather Fighter-Interceptor School in Georgia the following year. His first duty station was New Castle Air Force Base in Delaware with the 332dnd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. Over the next decade or so, Reed was assigned to several fighter squadrons at locations including Ladd AFB in Alaska, Bunker Hill AFB in Indiana, South Dakota, British Columbia, and Griffiss AFB in New York. While stationed in New York, he balanced flying F-101B Voodoo aircraft and attending Syracuse University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations in 1959.

Reed graduated from the Air War College in June 1972, following numerous assignments from California to Florida to Vietnam, logging 6,100 flying hours on seven different fighter aircraft, and completing a Master of Public Administration degree at George Washington University. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the Headquarters of the US Air Force in Washington, D.C. as Chief of the Doctrine Development Branch. There he served in a variety of key leadership roles in the Air Force before becoming the Air Force Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, subsequently, the Air Force representative for the United States Delegation to the Military Staff Committee at the United Nations. In 1986, Reed was honored with a promotion to the rank of General (four-star) and appointment as Chief of Staff for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in the final years of the Cold War. At SHAPE, Reed led a staff of 2,800 allied officers across 16 NATO nations. General Reed retired from the Air Force in 1988 after completing 35 years of distinguished service. 

Demonstrating a continued commitment to public service, Reed joined the Myrtle Beach Air Base Redevelopment Authority as vice chairman. On the topic of leadership, Reed stated, “One of the key qualities is the ability to motivate people. You have to be able to communicate and convince people of the importance of mission, and get them to buy into it. The other thing is to always operate with a sense of fairness in the treatment of people, because if you begin to show any kind of favoritism that can destabilize morale. The third thing is maintaining high standards of discipline, conduct, and ethics—you can’t compromise on those.”

General Reed has received extensive recognition for his accomplishments as an Air Force pilot and senior leader, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with 10 oak leaf clusters, and the Air Force Commendation Medal. He even has a stretch of highway named after him—the General Robert H. Reed Highway in his home state of Kentucky.

General Robert H. Reed, U.S. Air Force (ret.) is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

Louis J. Giuliano is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Louis J. Giuliano is a man of principle and an American businessman who graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry (’68) and Master of Business Administration in Marketing (’69) from the Whitman School of Management. Giuliano is also a U.S. Army veteran who made the rank of First Lieutenant and served honorably in Vietnam.

In the business world, Mr. Giuliano began working with the Aerospace group at Allied Signal. He served at Allied for nearly 20 years and rose to President of the Avionics Systems Group, responsible for seven operating units nationwide. In 1988, Mr. Giuliano joined ITT as Vice President of Defense Operations and, in 1991, became President of ITT Defense and Electronics, a position he filled for another eight years. As President and CEO of the ITT Defense and Electronics department, Mr. Giuliano received an important contract in 1997 with the U.S. Army’s Communications and Electronics Command. This partnership would transform tactical communications with the development and implementation of a new U.S. Army combat radio, the SINCGARS. Then, from 2001 to 2004, he led ITT Industries as Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. During his tenure, his chief priority was to improve operating performance and he oversaw significant increases in ITT’s market capitalization (250%) and stock price (170%).

In November 2004, former President George W. Bush appointed Mr. Giuliano to governor of the U.S. Postal Service. The Senate confirmed him in 2005 to serve a full nine-year term.

Mr. Giuliano attributes his time in the service for his success in the corporate world. He stated in a USA Today article about fellow veteran corporate leaders, “there is debate over whether it was combat or military training that gave them a leadership edge. The military teaches the responsibility of serving, not just fulfilling your own needs.”

Currently, Mr. Giuliano serves as Non-Executive Chairman of Vectrus, a leading provider of global service solutions in areas of Infrastructure Asset Management, IT, and Network Communication services, and Logistics and Supply Chain Management Services. He is also Senior Advisor to The Carlyle Group and is the Operating Executive to the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, and Transportation and Industrial Groups. He is actively involved with the CEO Forum and the Advisory Board for the Princeton University Faith and Work Initiative. In addition, he is the Founder of Workforce Ministries, Honorary Chairman of the Westchester County Red Cross Armed Force Emergency Services, and he holds several other board positions for organizations including Accudyne Industries and Meadowkirk Retreat Center.

Notably, Mr. Giuliano is also a sponsor of Syracuse University’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) based out of the Whitman School of Management and Institute for Veterans and Military Families. Mr. Giuliano is married to his wife Barbara and they have two daughters and six grandchildren.

Louis J. Giuliano is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

 

Sean O’Keefe is an alumnus of Syracuse University and also the former acting Secretary of the Navy. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Sean O’Keefe was born to Patricia Carlin and Patrick Gordon O’Keefe in Monterey, California. As the son of a naval engineer, O’Keefe moved around often as a child. Following his high school graduation in Connecticut in 1973, O’Keefe attended Loyola University in New Orleans. He graduated four years later with a Bachelor of Arts in 1977. But rather than taking a little personal time before jumping into his career, O’Keefe immediately proceeded to Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs to continue his studies in its intensive, yearlong Master of Public Administration program.

Mr. O’Keefe entered public service as a budget analyst for the Department of Defense (DoD) shortly after earning his M.P.A. in 1978. He later joined the Senate staff, working on the Senate Committee on Appropriations for eight years before taking over as staff director of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. O’Keefe eventually moved back to DoD as its Comptroller and CFO in 1989. Notably, from 1992 to 1993, O’Keefe served as the acting Secretary of the Navy under President George H.W. Bush. Later during President George W. Bush’s first term, Sean served as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget for a year and then as the NASA Administrator from 2001-2004.

Between these impressive government postings, O’Keefe held a number of significant positions in higher education and the private sector. Following his term as acting Secretary of the Navy in the mid-1990s, O’Keefe joined the business school faculty at Pennsylvania State University. He then rejoined the Maxwell School of Syracuse University as the Bantle Professor of Business and Government Policy where he taught for six years and directed the Maxwell School’s National Security Studies Program.

Following his terms at OMB and NASA, O’Keefe served for three years as Chancellor of Louisiana State University from 2005 to 2008. He then served as a vice president with General Electric for a year before taking over as Chairman and CEO of EADS North America (now Airbus North America) in 2009, a role he served in through 2014. Luckily, Mr. O’Keefe has returned to Syracuse University—yet again—as its 17^th University Professor and the Phanstiel Chair of Strategic Management and Leadership. He concurrently serves as a Distinguished Senior Advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

O’Keefe is a recipient of numerous awards in recognition of his extraordinary public service career. These include, among others, the Distinguished Public Service Award, the Navy Public Service Award, Syracuse University’s George Arents Award and Chancellor’s Award for Public Service, and five honorary doctorates.

Sean O’Keefe is an alumnus of Syracuse University and also the former acting Secretary of the Navy. You should know his story.

Donald S. MacNaughton, Jr. is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Born July 14, 1917 in Schenectady, NY, MacNaughton attended Syracuse University on a basketball scholarship and received his bachelor’s degree in 1939. Not long after graduation, McNaughton joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and served in the South Pacific during World War II. Naturally, at war’s end, 1st Lieutenant McNaughton returned to Syracuse University to earn a law degree in 1948.

McNaughton launched his career as an attorney just north of Syracuse in Pulaski, NY. After six years, he took a position with Prudential as an associate legal counsel and eventually rose to become its 10^th President and Chief Executive Officer. During his leadership tenure, Prudential expanded its real estate investments, diversified into auto and home insurance, plunged into the international marketplace ahead of its competitors, and tripled annual sales in life insurance to $43 billion.

In 1978, after serving as CEO for nine years, MacNaughton left Prudential to lead the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA Inc.), one of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chains. Later in 1982, MacNaughton stepped down as its president, though stayed on as chairman of HCA’s executive committee. MacNaughton also served on the boards of HealthTrust and Mountain View Hospital, Inc. and was a Syracuse University College of Law trustee from 1977-2002.

In addition to his wide recognition as a prominent leader in the insurance and health care industries, Donald S. MacNaughton, Jr. received numerous Syracuse University and national honors. He received Syracuse University’s Letter Winner of Distinction for basketball in 1968 and, a year later, the George Arents Pioneer Medal, SU’s highest alumni award. McNaughton also received an honorary degree from Saint Peter’s University in 1976. In 1979, he was nominated as an advisory member of the National Commission on Social Security, a study charged by Congress and comprised entirely of private citizens to evaluate social security system.

Beyond his storied career, MacNaughton and his family have left a permanent mark on Syracuse University. His legacy lives on through his children and grandchildren, two of which (Donald and David) are also highly successful Syracuse University graduates. In addition, SU’s Winifred MacNaughton Hall was dedicated in his wife’s name in 1998.

Donald S. MacNaughton, Jr. is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

Growing up on a family farm in Jarratt, Virginia, Melvin “Mel” T. Stith was one of 10 siblings. It was on this farm he learned—through his daily chores and obligations in a large family—that “leadership is [about] being responsible for things.”

 

Following high school, Stith attended Norfolk State University (NSU), a historically black institution, where he majored in sociology. Since NSU was initially a land-grant school, ROTC was mandatory for all males during their first two years in college. By his junior year, however, Stith received an Army ROTC scholarship. He graduated two years later in 1968 and received his commission in the U.S. Army as a military intelligence officer.

 

Melvin T. Stith notably served in the U.S. Army Intelligence Command at a time in our history when there were few military officers of color. After learning Vietnamese from the Defense Language Institute (Southwest Branch) in El Paso, TX, Stith deployed to Vietnam. Stith made the rank of captain while there, but one day, while in the jungle near the Cambodian border, he received a Teletype from Syracuse University offering him a scholarship for graduate school. With the encouragement of his wife, he hitched a ride out of the warzone the following day and made his way to SU. By 1973, Stith had earned an MBA and, four years later, a Ph.D. in marketing.

 

Since 1977, Dr. Stith has been a professor of business and marketing. Stith unsurprisingly rose through the academic ranks too, as he was named the marketing department chair of Florida State University’s (FSU) College of Business in 1985. In 1991, he was named Dean of the College of Business and Jim Moran Professor of Business Administration and served in that role for another 13 years. Under his leadership, the FSU College of Business was consistently ranked as one of the top 50 undergraduate programs in the country.

 

Luckily for us, Dr. Melvin Stith returned to his alma mater to become the 16^th Dean of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 2005. Dr. Stith recounts this opportunity as a fortunate accident. While on campus, Stith was mistaken as the new dean, when he made a visit with his son. “I’m just here to bring my son,” he had insisted as he toured the departments and visited old professors. A few weeks from that visit, the original candidate for Dean turned down the position and it was extended to Stith. With the support of his family and colleagues, Stith accepted the position and began molding the school into one focused on supporting diversity and veterans’ affairs.

 

The opportunity to develop the relationship between the Whitman School and the veterans community was evident when approached by the Institute of Veterans and Military Families’ (IVMF) founder, Dr. Mike Haynie. Stith needed little convincing in Haynie’s initial idea of creating an entrepreneurship boot camp for veterans with disabilities (EBV), since it so clearly fulfilled the vision of Martin J. Whitman, a veteran himself, and SU’s long historical tradition of supporting veterans. Stith recalls, “You always wish you’d have a signature program in your career, and for me, that’s it.” The EBV program and the IVMF are certainly two cornerstones of Stith’s legacy.

 

After nine years as the Whitman School Dean, Stith retired, though he remains active as Dean Emeritus and in The PhD Project, a national foundation that he founded and that works to recruit black, Hispanic, and American Indian students to the business school professoriate. In 2011, Stith endowed the Stith Graduate Student Fund at SU to provide financial aid to full-time minority doctoral students. The next year, Stith was invited to attend the White House Summit on Entrepreneurship for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions. In 2013, Stith, alongside his wife, received Syracuse University’s Orange Circle Award, which recognized their philanthropic work in the community.

 

Well-known in Syracuse, Stith remains dedicated to his academic, local, regional, and national communities and organizations, which include United Way, Vera House, Crouse Hospital, and The PhD Project. He also serves on the IVMF Board of Advisors, AFLAC Inc. Board of Directors, and nonprofit boards of the Jim Moran Foundation, Crouse Hospital Foundation, Syracuse Stage and his first collegiate alma mater, Norfolk State University. When asked of his greatest success, Stith said, “I think I’m a pretty good spouse, a pretty good dad, and a pretty good friend…and professionally, it’s not about being liked [though he was], it’s about being respected”—two successful deanships undoubtedly qualify.

 

Melvin T. Stith is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

Samuel V. Goekjian is a remarkable individual who set forth on a business-driven path well before immigrating to the U.S. on a 4-year scholarship to Syracuse University. Born from Armenian parents who escaped the Turkish massacres at the end of WWI, Goekjian grew up in Ethiopia where his family found refuge. Goekjian, inspired by his father’s resilience to hardship, was encouraged by the prospects of moving to America.

During his college years at Syracuse University, Goekjian was actively involved in numerous leadership roles, having been elected president of his junior class, the debate society, and the men’s student government in his senior year. He also belonged to the Phi Kappa Alpha Honor Society, the Orange Key, and Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated magna cum laude in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in history. The following year, however, he joined the U.S. Army as a mortar gunner and served for two years during the height of the Korean War. Following his combat service, Goekjian attended Harvard Law School and graduated in 1957.

 

Mr. Goekjian has spent well over a half century working as a successful attorney and business executive. Goekjian launched his professional career as an attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based firm Surrey & Morse, for whom he served nearly 25 years and ran the firm’s Beirut and Paris offices. Fluent in seven languages and having lived on four continents, Goekjian brought a wealth of expertise and impact on U.S.-Egypt business relations, African law, and international development. He also lectured as an adjunct law professor at the Georgetown University and George Washington University law schools.

 

In 1983, Goekjian moved to New York City to take over as Chairman and CEO of Consolidated Westway Group, Inc., North America’s largest manufacturer and distributor of liquid feed supplements for the livestock industry. Beyond his remarkable accomplishments in international law and business, Mr. Goekjian’s entrepreneurial spirit stood out six year later in 1989 when he founded Old Line Bank, a Maryland state chartered banking association established. Goekjian later joined the international consulting firm Intracon Associates, LLC, as Chairman and CEO in 1995. He remains the managing partner of the Washington law firm of Kile Goekjian Reed & McManus PLLC, which specializes in intellectual property, internet technology, and international trade. Mr. Goekjian also serves as a senior consultant to various agencies of the United Nations and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

 

In spite of his humility, Syracuse University has honored Mr. Goekjian for his various accomplishments on several occasions. The first honor came in 1996, when Goekjian received a Letter Winner of Distinction from the Varsity Club of Syracuse University for Soccer, Track & Tennis. Later, in 2005, Goekjian received the Maxwell School Horizon Award, established to recognize wise, inspirational, volunteer leadership combined with exceptional philanthropic commitment. Finally, in 2009, Goekjian was honored with the university’s highest alumni award, the George Arents Pioneer Medal, for his excellence in international business and law. Samuel V. Goekjian remains a Syracuse University Life Trustee on both Student Affairs and Academic Affairs committees. Mr. Goekjian continues to be a beneficiary to numerous SU funds to include the NEH endowment, athletics, and Maxwell School, where he established a major endowment fund for its Global Affairs Institute.

 

As Goekjian once put it, “…I learned not only about the rights of citizenship, but also of the obligations that accompany that citizenship.” With this mindset and will to succeed, Samuel V. Goekjian not only accomplished his goals of obtaining a first-class education, becoming a lawyer, and becoming a U.S. citizen, but also made a real difference in world affairs.

 

Samuel V. Goekjian is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

David M. Crane is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Born in Santa Monica, California, it’s unlikely David Crane immediately envisioned becoming a paratrooper, world-renowned jurist, international prosecutor, or honorary Paramount Chief among the civil society organizations of Sierra Leone.

 

David Crane launched his reputable career at Ohio University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in history, summa cum laude, and master’s degree in African Studies. While studying at Ohio University, Crane met his wife, Judi, his college sweetheart to whom he proposed six months later.

 

Following college, David Crane built quite an impressive resume serving as a U.S. Army officer and later Department of Defense (DoD) civil servant. His Army career spanned more than two decades, in which he starting out as a paratrooper and special operations officer. While serving, Crane later returned to school to earn a law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law and continued his military service in the U.S. Army JAG Corps. Following his military retirement, he worked another decade a senior DoD intelligence officer and held positions including Director of the Office of Intelligence Review, Assistant General Counsel of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Waldemar A. Solf Professor of International Law at the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Generals School.

 

While in federal service, Crane received an unexpected phone call leading to his nomination, and then appointment, by Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan to became the founding Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court of Sierra Leone, an international war crimes tribunal, from 2002 to 2005. He is accredited for indicting, among others, the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, the first African head of state in history to be held accountable for war crimes. David Crane was the first American since Justice Robert H. Jackson at Nuremberg in ‘45 to become Chief Prosecutor at an international war crimes tribunal. It is said that his greatest achievement with this trial was his assistance in securing the arrest of Charles Taylor. David Crane witnessed justice after a grueling 10 year case, when former president Charles Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison for crimes of terror, murder, and rape committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone during the 1990s, a testament that, in his words, the “rule of the law trumps the power of the gun.”

 

In 2006, David Crane became a Professor of Practice at Syracuse University College of Law, teaching international criminal law, international law, national security law, and the law of armed conflict. David Crane is on the Board of Advisors for the American Bar Association’s International Criminal Court Project (ABA-ICC Project), which implements American Bar Association’s policies on international criminal justice. In addition to his role on the College of Law faculty, Crane is a faculty member of SU’s Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism and currently serves as a co-chair on the sections International Criminal Court Task Force. With the support of more than 50 Syracuse law students to date, Crane also launched Impunity Watch, an online publication that informs the world of human rights violations in real-time, as well as the Syria Accountability Project (SAP), which provides impartial analysis of open source materials for future, open and fair prosecution of Syrian war crimes under the Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute, and Syrian Penal Law. He also founded the “I am Syria” campaign in 2012 to help raise awareness of the atrocities perpetrated in the Syrian civil war.

 

For his service and distinguished accomplishments, David Crane has received multiple honors for his accomplishments, including the SU College of Law Distinguished Service Award (2005) and the university’s highest alumni honor, the George Arents Pioneer Medal (2006). David Crane is also an honorary Doctor of Laws recipient from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

 

“Life is a challenge, and you have to deal with it as it comes,” said Crane. His life has certainly followed this axiom. A span of more than 30 years in service to his nation, his continual support and involvement in projects within SU’s College of Law, and work in international law, exemplify his boundless commitment to justice—not only for his nation, but also for humanity.

 

David M. Crane is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

At 98, Don Waful ’37, G’39 is one of Syracuse University’s oldest surviving military veterans. Here Waful reflects on his World War II service, meeting the loves of his life and why he has been a dedicated Syracuse football fan since 1933.

[cobalt_embed id=”770″ title=”hide” caption=”hide” display=”highlight” action=”embed”]

 

Albert Lee Gaines is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Though born in Struthers, Ohio on November 27, 1923, Albert Lee Gaines and spent the majority of his adolescence in Seneca, New York, where he attended the Seneca Vocational School. Following high school, Gaines went on to Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri; however, in the thick of World War II, he transferred to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. There he would go on to make a significant mark on American history.

With much reluctance and through great adversity, Gaines became a member of the now world-renowned Tuskegee Airman in his early 20s. Prior to the Tuskegee Airman, there were no black U.S. military aviators. When Congress forced the U.S. Army Air Corps to form an all-black combat unit in 1941, Gaines was able to complete the course. He graduated Tuskegee University, as a 2nd lieutenant and progressed to the rank of captain as a pilot, bombardier, and eventually flight instructor. While in attendance at Tuskegee, Gaines also met Leola McCoy, whom he would later marry in 1948 and have two daughters.

image006.jpgDuring the height of WWII, Mr. Gaines was one of the few Tuskegee Airman to join the ranks of a unit known as The Red Tails. This elite group developed a feared reputation among German pilots having been accredited for shooting down 106 enemy aircraft and never losing a plane under escort. It was only later in 1952 that Gaines and several other Tuskegee Airmen were acknowledged for their success by the T.J. Watson family, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the founders of IBM, with whom he would eventually find employment. Notably, when he took the IBM opening exam, he had achieved the highest test scores on record.

With support from important figures, Gaines was accepted into and attended Syracuse University—it was a “Jackie Robinson moment” as he called it. From Syracuse to Westchester County, he finally settled down in Peekskill, NY, where he worked as a computer engineer. Later, he successfully integrated the New York National Guard and served as the Lakeland School Board President, where he met his “Princess and Best Friend” and married her in 1991. Mr. Gaines retired from IBM in 1999, but he didn’t stop there. He continued to be a legal activist at the Montrose VA Hospital and even ran once for county executive. Gaines fully retired in 2003.

Albert Lee Gaines served as an advocate for civil rights and held significant positions in several local political committees, state associations, and in Westchester community organizations; but most importantly, Gaines was a diverse, kind-hearted, and intelligent man. He enjoyed photography, furniture repair, boxing, and electronic and automobile work, but most of all—being a voice for others. Albert Lee Gaines’ lifetime achievement was helping race relations in this nation. However, according to his second wife, Addie Viola-Baldwin, this humble and discrete man never spoke of his accomplishments. This Ohio-native was a Tuskegee Airman legend, one that gained a high level of respect and will forever be part of our history books.

Albert Lee Gaines is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

Gerald Cramer is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Born in Utica, New York on May 9, 1930, a year after the Wall Street crash and the beginning of the Great Depression, Gerald Cramer was the youngest of three in a family of Lithuanian immigrants. As a boy, Cramer, who deeply admired and modeled himself after his father’s strength and work ethic, thirsted for a college education. Encouraged by his parents, he applied to the prestigious Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, one of the oldest in the United States, but quickly learned that pharmaceuticals were not a lifelong interest. Instead, Cramer applied to Syracuse University and was accepted in the summer of 1948.

While attending Syracuse, Cramer held various student leadership positions and conspicuously created the Campus Leadership Scholarship with the Traditions Commission and Campus Leaders Society. He also played varsity tennis his senior year. Mr. Cramer graduated in 1952 with a bachelor’s of science in accounting from the Whitman School of Management.

He awaited a U.S. Navy commission upon graduation, and, in the meantime, applied to graduate school. Cramer was accepted to both Harvard Business School and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, but ultimately chose Wharton for its one-year program. While in graduate school, however, he received orders to report to Navy Officer Candidate School and left business school to serve his country.

Ensign Cramer’s first assignment was to Korea on the sole surviving Landing Ship Tank (LST 611) during the height of the Korean War. To his relief, however, LST 611 moved to Hawaiian waters. Cramer rose quickly from damage-control officer up to executive officer, the vessel’s second officer in command, and the rank of Lieutenant. LT Cramer served three years and four months on the ship that would be named Crook County 611, known for two things: “rugged and durable people and rugged and tough terrain.” The name appropriately describes the ship and its servicemen, much like Cramer.

Mr. Cramer’s hard work and dedication have spanned nearly six decades and contributed to an impressive investment-banking career. Most notably, Cramer co-founded and was chairman emeritus of Cramer Rosenthal & McGlynn LLC, an investment advisory firm that manages more than $10 billion in assets. He has also served on numerous boards and in leadership positions for firms such as Oppenheimer & Company, Silver Lane, GOM Capital LLC, and Seavest Capital.

Like his father in many ways, Cramer was also active in philanthropic work. Cramer’s civic commitments include membership on the boards of the National Road Safety Foundation and Ripplewood Corporation, a major equity firm. Cramer also served as director of Tea Town Lake Reservation and formerly on boards at St. Joseph’s Medical Center and the Glaucoma Foundation.

Cramer also remains active in Syracuse University affairs. Since 1995, he has served on the executive committee of the Board of Trustees and has held posts as vice chairman and chairman of the investment and endowment committee. He has also served as a member of the SU School of Architecture Advisory Board and the Metropolitan New York Advisory Board. He has been a major benefactor of the Maxwell School with more than three-dozen students as recipients of Cramer Scholarships and four Maxwell faculty members with the title of Cramer Professor. Mr. Cramer has also sponsored and funded a joint program between the Maxwell School’s Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism and the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel. In 2004, Cramer was selected as the first recipient of the Maxwell School Horizon Award; and, in 2006, Cramer was awarded the George Arents Pioneer Medal, Syracuse University’s highest alumni honor.

Gerald Cramer is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.