Robert D. Daleo

Doctor of Humane Letters

For more than five decades, Bob Daleo has lived the Jesuit values of Fordham as both a business leader and an engaged alumnus who provided steadying, principled guidance during 11 years as chair of the University’s Board of Trustees.

Daleo grew up in the Bronx, one of three sons of hardworking Italian American parents. “They gave me an understanding of who I am,” he once said. “And they gave me values.” He studied economics at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus, balancing his coursework with a job managing a store in the Parkchester neighborhood.

After graduating in 1972, Daleo earned an M.B.A. from Baruch College and built a career in the publishing and news industries. He served in financial and operational roles at McGraw Hill and Automatic Data Processing before joining Thomson Newspapers in 1994 as senior vice president and chief financial officer. He helped to reinvigorate the company, served in senior roles at its parent company, Thomson Corporation, and eventually retired as vice chair of Thomson Reuters in 2012.

As Daleo approached retirement, he stepped into a series of leadership roles at Fordham that would have a lasting impact on his alma mater. He became a founding member of the President’s Council, mentoring students through its Executive in Residence program, before joining the Board of Trustees in 2008. Four years later, he began his tenure as board chair. In that role, he helped the University develop a long-term strategy, manage the budgetary shocks stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, renew its efforts toward racial justice, and select a new president to succeed Joseph M. McShane, S.J., now president emeritus. 

Daleo and his wife, Linda, a career educator, are longtime supporters of children and families. They have contributed to Cristo Rey New York High School and the New Jersey Community Development Corporation. At Fordham, they established a scholarship in memory of Daleo’s brother Paul, a two-time graduate of the Gabelli School of Business, and Paul’s wife, Catherine, and they have supported the renovation of Hughes Hall and the construction of the McShane Campus Center, a hub for student services and organizations that opened in 2022. “You can’t do great work,” he once said, “if you don’t have the right place to do it.”

For his discerning leadership and for all he has done to advance the University and ensure that every student can benefit from the value of a Jesuit education, we, the President and Trustees of Fordham University, in solemn convocation assembled and in accord with the chartered authority bestowed on us by the Regents of the University of the State of New York, declare Robert D. Daleo Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. That he may enjoy all rights and privileges of this, our highest honor, we have issued these letters patent under our hand and the corporate seal of the University on this, the 18th day of May in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Four.