J E S U ITALT U OM D AY NI
Jesuit’s 2010 Alumnus of the Year Lives by the Motto Pro Bono Publico At Homecoming Mass in October, Jesuit president Fr. Anthony McGinn, S.J. ’66 introduced the 2010 Alumnus of the Year with these words...
At the annual Alumnus of the Year dinner, former Blue Jays who have been honored pay tribute to John Charbonnet ’54. In top left photo, Charbonnet talks with Hon. Moon Landrieu ’48, who was Alumnus of the Year in 1970.
His professional career as a licensed general contractor spans nearly 50 years with two closely held companies, Marsiglia Construction Company, where he was vice-president, and his own firm, Charbonnet Construction Company, of which he was president. He also served as the chief executive officer of the Foster Corporation, a Chalmette-based company that specializes in the manufacture of custom sewn fabric products such as tarps and covers. Charbonnet reigned as Rex, King of Carnival at the 1988 Mardi Gras. In 1992, the Young Leadership Council recognized him as one of its Role Models for the citizens of New Orleans. Charbonnet is married to the former Dorothy Nelle Storey. He and Dottie have three children: John D. Charbonnet, Jr. ’83; J. Storey Charbonnet ’85; and, Anne Charbonnet Goliwas. The Charbonnets have a total of eight grandchildren. n Read the entire article and visit the Alumnus of the Year Archives on Jesuit’s web site: http://www.jesuitnola.org/alumni/ Alumnus_of_Year_Master_Archive_Home_2008-10-16.htm.
Very early on when I became president of Jesuit High School, I had a conversation with our 1964 Alumnus of the Year, (Leon Sarpy), who was a graduate of the Class of 1924. That conversation clarified for me very important principles of Jesuit High School — how important it is to maintain the continuity. His experience from 1924 to my experience when I was a student to my experience (when I became president) in 1992, there was a tremendous sense of continuity. Although many things had changed, the basics remained the same — a tremendous sense of continuity through the years at Jesuit High School. I became convinced that the number one job description of president of Jesuit High School is to preserve the continuity amid the change. I see before me the Class of 1985, who I knew as 15-yearolds, and today, as parents of students of Jesuit High School. They are still the 15-year-olds they once were, but they have changed and grown and developed. That is the great grace that God has given to them, a great consolation to me personally, and for all of us at Jesuit High School — to see people grow and develop. I can’t say the same thing about the Class of ’60, because they were a bit ahead of me. You know one of the realities that we face here at Jesuit High School in this day is every year we get closer to the front, which is a day of reckoning for us and the Class of ’60. Talking about continuity, and as I come to acknowledge the great gift that John Charbonnet has been to Jesuit High School and to the City of New Orleans, I noted his civic leadership, and particularly the leadership he exercised in 1991 and 1992 when he led the effort to maintain continuity in our city while still accepting change. We live by mottos in our lives. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, of Fall/Winter 2010 – 11
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