c yn t h ia o ’d o n n el l ’8 3, academic advisor for the school of business, died on Jan. 11, 2009. She was 61 years old. Known among her colleagues as the first academic advisor on Manhattan’s campus, O’Donnell was so effective at her job in the school of business that her position became a model for future advising positions in the College’s other four schools. Most recently, she served as coordinator of academic advising, a link to each of the College’s five schools and the culmination of 38 years of service to the Manhattan community. “Cindy, as the first academic advisor, paved the way for the other outstanding people who do academic advising,” said Dr. James Suarez, dean of the school of business, who was O’Donnell’s boss and gave one of the eulogies at the campus Mass in her memory this past January. “Students could tell her anything. Those students who struggled the most benefited the most from Cindy.” Indeed, colleagues, such as Barbara Fabé, vice president for human resources at Manhattan College, have an indelible image of O’Donnell and her students. She recalls how O’Donnell cheered on business students during Commencement. “Nobody got away without a word or hug from her,” Fabé says. “She said things like, ‘Don’t be nervous’ or ‘I knew you could do it.’ She had the look that a mother has for her own child at graduation. She had it for a few hundred.” O’Donnell arrived at the College in 1970. In 1991, she was promoted to the academic advisor position in the school of business after spending most of her career at work in the school of engineering, as well as a stint in the office of college advancement. During her time at Manhattan, O’Donnell earned two master’s degrees from the College: an M.A. in English and an M.A. in counseling. Off campus, O’Donnell was known by her family as the person who linked everyone together. As the only child of Annabelle O’Donnell, who was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States, she grew up in the Bronx as part of a close family. Her father died when she was a young girl. Her mother was close to her six sisters whose children, O’Donnell’s cousins, spent a lot of time together. The sisters, as the family calls them, instilled in their children the importance of education, a moral that O’Donnell made an example of in her life. For those whose lives intersected with O’Donnell’s, their memories are potent and uplifting. She was a trailblazer at work, a confidante to students, a talented seamstress, a gardener, and most importantly, a friend and family touchstone. “I call her our memory keeper because she knew everybody’s birthday and anniversary, and you always got a phone call,” says Ilona Rice, one of O’Donnell’s first cousins. “Every year, she would organize a luncheon. This once-a-year gathering got together not just the cousins but the sisters as well. It just was a sparkling day because everyone reconnected.” O’Donnell also had a special knack for gardening. At the Mass in her honor at Manhattan College, family members carried yellow roses to the altar in memory of O’Donnell, a tribute to her green thumb, which began in childhood. One summer, while at her cousin Maureen’s house in Rockland County, her Uncle Mike bought each of his children and O’Donnell yellow rosebushes. “Cindy’s rosebush was the only one that lived,” says Maureen Butrico, another of O’Donnell’s cousins. “She would come up every summer, and it would thrive. Yellow roses became an important thing to her, a link to her childhood.” There seems to be a trace of O’Donnell’s generosity and dedication everywhere, whether it’s the accomplishments she made on Manhattan’s campus or the strong family bond that she wove during her lifetime. “She was very wise,” Rice says. “I think she was an old soul who was just finishing her work here.”
William Dougherty ’63 w illia m d o u gh ert y ’63, Ed.D., retired associate professor of education, died on Jan. 21, 2009. He was 68. Dougherty began his career at the College in 1973, when he worked part-time as an adjunct instructor in the school of education until 1993. He then became associate professor of education in 1995, a position he held until his retirement in 2002. “He did such a good job as a part-time instructor, when the position opened up, we invited him to apply to teach at Manhattan College,” says Brother Christopher Dardis, F.S.C., professor emeritus of education. “His whole life was spent in education.” Dougherty’s dedication to the College started much earlier than his professional career at Manhattan. He graduated from Manhattan College in 1963 with a B.S. in chemistry. He then went on to earn an M.A. in science education from Hunter College in 1968 and an Ed.D. in educational administration from St. John’s University in 1980. Before Dougherty became a full-time member of the College’s faculty, he also taught chemistry at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx from 1963-1969 and then served as the school’s assistant principal from 1969-1995, a role for which he was awarded Administrator of the Year 1993-1994 by the superintendent for Bronx high schools. Throughout his years of teaching, he was especially devoted to learning new technology and passing that information on to his fellow faculty and students. He ran workshops in the use of computers for instruction and the use of PowerPoint in presentations and the classroom at the College, as well as attended conferences focusing on technology for his own professional development. “He was a devoted teacher,” Br. Dardis says. “He always tried to be helpful to people.” Dougherty even initiated the creation of a technology classroom for students in the school of education. Recognizing that the school lacked its own lab, he coordinated the makeover of room 110 in Miguel Hall from a storage area to a small computer lab in 1988. With his own hands, he picked up and wired the computers and also coordinated the hiring of student assistants. “He was always interested in the uses of technology, as well as exposing future teachers to technology,” says Walter Matystik, assistant provost for faculty research and computer systems, policy and planning. “He took an active role in that.” Dougherty was a member of New York State Association of Teacher Educators and New York Association for Computers and Technology in Education, among others, and served on the New York State Teacher Examination Review Committee. He was also active in various committees at Manhattan, including: Advisory Council on Chemical Education; Computer Governance Committee; Faculty Technology Committee, for which he served as its chair in 1997; Computer Fair Use Policy Committee; and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Manhattan College Chapter, which he founded and served as faculty advisor. “He worked well with faculty colleagues and was able to translate their needs and lobby for them,” Matystik says. “He had a way of getting things done with style.” Dougherty is survived by his wife, Veronica; his daughters, Maura and Kara; his sister, Rita; and brother, John.
John F. Azzariti ’73 Jo h n f . a z z a r iti ’73, managing partner of the Stamford, Conn., office of KPMG LLP, passed away on Dec. 13, 2008. He was 56 years old. Azzariti, a C.P.A., began his career with the audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG in 1972 and worked his way up through the years. He held a firm belief in the power of education to positively affect lives and, as a result, was remarkably faithful to alma mater. He stewarded KPMG’s annual support of the De La Salle Medal Dinner, as well as managed its alumni corporate giving program, and actively urged Manhattan alumni at the firm to give back. Deeply committed to the community in which he lived, Azzariti served on boards of directors for the Danbury Hospital Development Fund, The Business Council of Fairfield County, Danbury Visiting Nurse Association and Danbury Physician Services. He had formerly served on the board of directors for the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Stamford. He is survived by his wife, Kathie; his daughters Kim and Kara; his four grandchildren; and his brother, Guy Azzariti ’71.
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