144 Grand
Trustees Elect Phil McGovern, ’76, P’11 Chairman The Board of Trustees of Saint Peter’s Prep elected Philip F. McGovern, Jr., ’76,P’11 as the board’s seventh chairman in December. His second tenure on Prep’s board marks the latest step in a lifelong relationship with the school. After serving two terms as a trustee from 2004-2010, McGovern continued to work closely with the board as Prep’s general counsel since 2011. In addition to being a Prep alumnus himself, he is the son of the late Philip F. McGovern, Sr.,'43; the brother of the late John McGovern, '80; and the nephew of Joseph McGovern,'50. Phil and wife Diana are the parents of Phil, ’11, now a sophomore at Williams College, and Maddie, currently a senior at the Academy of the Holy Angels in Demarest. McGovern has been a partner in the law firm of Connell Foley, L.L.P. for 20 years, and has served as managing partner of the firm’s Jersey City office since 2001. In a legal career spanning four decades, he has earned numerous accolades and awards, and represented major clients including Shell Oil, United Parcel Service and Merrill Lynch & Co. His bar admissions include the New Jersey Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. Numerous other organizations besides Prep have benefited from McGovern’s leadership. He was a trustee of the Academy of Saint Aloysius from 1996-2006, and has served on the pastoral finance council for Saint Thomas the Apostle Church in Nutley from 2002-2010, and the finance council of the Academy of the Holy Angels since 2011. In his hometwon of Nutley, he has chaired the Township Planning Board since 1998 and coached various youth baseball and basketball programs since 1989. He has also been an active and involved benefactor of Saint Anthony’s High School in Jersey City. “Phil will be a fine chairman of the board because of his and his family’s very personal relationship with Saint Peter’s Prep, spanning three generations of McGovern men,” said Prep’s president, Bob Reiser, S.J. “As a member of our board and then as general counsel to the school, he already has a deep knowledge of and strong experience in the leadership of Prep. “Phil’s dedication to his family, his profession and his Church are the qualities held by our previous chairmen, and thus Phil continues the proud tradition of lay leadership for this Jesuit school.”
Laughter Onstage & Off Under the direction of Jack Campion, Prep Dramatics’ Laughter on the 23rd Floor provided ample laughter in O’Keefe Commons. And as always, additional laughter was on offer at the annual dramatics homecoming on opening night – some of it courtesy of a very special guest: Nathan Lane, ’74. The two-time Tony Award winner chatted for hours with his fellow guests, shaking hands and posing for pictures throughout. Lane appeared as the Sid Caesar-like Max Prince when Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical comedy debuted on Broadway in 1993. This time around, it was Brandon Wendt, ’13 in the role of the 1950s TV host who battles the network brass for creative control, backed by a team of young comedy writers destined for greatness. Performing with one of Prep’s two Tony winners in the audience (the other being Philip Bosco, ’48) was a thrill for the cast and crew, many of whom took to social media to tell their friends about the experience. “To know he was there just pumped us up,” tweeted Marc Wright, ’15, who played the Mel Brooks-esque Ira Stone. “Such an honor to perform for a theatre icon.”
8 View additional photos at spprep.org/prepmag CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: The cast and crew pose with Nathan Lane, ’74; James Ryan, ’14 (Kenny Franks) and Brandon Wendt, ’13 (Max Prince); Nathan Lane chats with director Jack Campion and his wife Jane; Michael Dombrowski, ’13 (Lucas Brickman) and Josh Crespo, ’13 (Brian Doyle); Marc Wright, ’15 (Ira Stone). PREP MAGAZINE n WWW.SPPREP.ORG n SPRING 2013 3