Mario J. Gabelli, 1965 graduate of the undergraduate business college at Fordham that now bears his name, has funded the University’s ability to initiate the Gabelli Ph.D. Program, which will establish a doctoral-level business program at the Fordham Gabelli School of Business. In 2010, he made a $25 million gift to Fordham, the largest in the University’s history.
“We are, of course, deeply pleased by Mario’s latest gift,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Pleased for what it means for business education at Fordham and pleased for the vote of confidence from a world class investor. Mario’s generous gift builds on his legacy, and adds significantly to the Fordham School of Business intellectual capital.”
Gabelli is a philanthropist, investor and chairman and CEO of GAMCO Investors, Inc., a native of the Bronx and current resident of Greenwich, Conn. He is a second-generation American, the first in his family to attend college. He holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University and graduated summa cum laude from Fordham GSB. He also is a “Golden Ram” having graduated from Fordham Prep in 1961.
“Education is the great leveler,” Gabelli said. “And for us to have Fordham at the forefront of business education requires faculty, requires facilities, financing, and fabulous students. It requires an intense competitive environment and a focus on those drivers that allow us to have the best educated individuals to compete globally.”
Gabelli has given back to education and the arts. In addition to his extraordinary generosity to Fordham, he has served on the boards of Boston College, Roger Williams University, and Columbia University’s graduate school of business, the National Italian American Foundation, the American-Italian Cancer Foundation, the Foundation for Italian Art and Culture, and the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States.
“Having a doctoral program in business will allow us to attract promising young researchers and cultivate them under the mentorship of our best and brightest business faculty members,” said Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School and dean of the business faculty. “We are extremely grateful to Mario Gabelli for helping to add more depth to business education at Fordham.”
