The 1992 Awardees

Thomas M. Fitzgerald Jr.
(1928-2001)

AB 1950
Larchmont, NY

Thomas Fitzgerald, former executive vice president with CIT Group, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, CA on April 11, 1992.

Born in New York in 1928, Fitzgerald was a graduate of Brooklyn Prep before arriving at the Hilltop in 1950, where he was a four year member of the sailing team. Following graduation in 1950, he served in the U.S. Army 2nd Infantry Division in Korea, and joined Bank of Boston thereafter, with a 21 year career which included his work as president of the International Factors Group, a network of banks involved in international trade management. He later held executive positions at Citibank, Manufacturers Hanover, and CIT Group.

A past president of the Georgetown Club of Metropolitan New York, he served on the Board of Governors of the Alumni Association from 1979 to 1985.

Thomas Fitzgerald died in 2001 at the age of 73.

Dorothy R. Leavey
(1896-1998)

Honorary degree 1988
Beverly Hills, CA

Dorothy Risley Leavey, co-founder of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, CA on April 11, 1992. At 96, she was the oldest recipient of the award to date.

Born in Omaha in 1896, Dorothy grew up in Chicago and attended the University of Montana to become a legal secretary. She moved to Los Angeles in 1928 and met Tom Leavey, a 1923 Georgetown graduate starting an business which became the Farmers Insurance Companies. They were married in 1930.

In 1952, the couple created the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, which has distributed over $100 million to charitable causes across the Los Angeles area as well as to a number of Catholic universities, including Georgetown. The foundation helped support the construction of Georgetown's Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center, built in 1988.

A prominent member of Georgetown's West Coast community, Leavey was previously awarded the President's Medal in 1983, was named an honorary regent in 1985, and received an honorary degree from the University in 1988. Her son-in-law and two of her grandchildren are Georgetown alumni.

Dorothy Leavey died in 1998 at the age of 101.

Robert E. McDonough
(1922-2007)

BSFS 1949
Beverly Hills, CA

Robert E. ("Bob") McDonough, a Los Angeles based CEO and benefactor to Georgetown's business school, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, CA on April 11, 1992.

Born in Chicago, IL in 1922, McDonough joined the Merchant Marines after high school, serving in World War II and joined the newly formed United Nations in 1945 to direct relief aid to the former country of Yugoslavia. He returned stateside to attend Georgetown, working nights as a U.S Capitol police officer while earning a degree from the School of Foreign Service in 1949.

A former vice president with the Continental Oil Company, McDonough moved to California in 1965 and founded a temporary staffing company, S&S Personnel Consultants, later known as Remedy Temp. By 1995, company revenues topped $200 million annually when the company went public.

The story of Bob McDonough's support to Georgetown began in 1950, when he sent in a check for $5. As his success grew, he never forgot Georgetown, later making two gifts each over $1 million: one in honor of his late wife, Elsa, and his second wife Simone.

"Thank God I only had two wives," McDonough told the Los Angeles Times. "Otherwise I'd go to the poor house, I guess."

On October 8, 1998, McDonough announced a $30 million gift of stock to Georgetown's business school, which renamed the school in his honor. A subsequent downturn in the stock diluted some of the multi-million dollar total, but the gift was nonetheless transformational to the school, which now ranks among the leading business schools in the nation.

"He was a man of great warmth and humanity," said former dean George Daly. "He lived the American dream and made it possible for many others to do so."

A member of the University's Board of Directors, McDonough regularly hosted receptions at his home at San Juan Capistrano, CA for new students attending Georgetown from Southern California, and often traveled to support the Hoyas in men's basketball. When the Hoyas appeared in the 2001 NCAA's near his home in Anaheim CA, McDonough could have asked for any seat in the arena, but asked for tickets in the student section that night.

"I want to be where the emotion is," McDonough said, "rather than be with stuffy people my age."

Bob McDonough died in 2007 at the age of 85.

Rory F. Quirk

AB 1965, MA 1971, JD 1980
Washington, DC

Rory Quirk, a Washington DC-based attorney and former president of the Georgetown University Alumni Association, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, CA on April 11, 1992.

Raised in Philadelphia, Quirk's legacy of volunteer service began as an undergraduate in the College. As sports editor of The HOYA and chairman of the Student Athletic Commission, Quirk saw an opportunity to revive a Georgetown tradition lost a decade earlier: intercollegiate football. Quirk undertook a 110 page report investigating the possibilities of a low-budget, non-scholarship program. On November 28, 1964, a crowd of 8,004 overwhelmed Kehoe Field to see Georgetown defeat NYU 28-6.

"This is what the students and alumni want," Quirk wrote. "Eight thousand people can't be wrong."

Following graduation, Quirk completed Army Ranger training and served in Vietnam at the rank of captain. Following military service, he earned graduate degrees at Columbia and Georgetown, and wrote for the Washington Post during the 1970's. He returned for a law degree from Georgetown and became an attorney thereafter.

Quirk is the author of the 1999 book, "Wars and Peace: The Memoir of an American Family," a story of letters exchanged through two generations of the Quirk family, each serving in wartime.

Quirk's record of service to Georgetown is distinguished. He is a past president of Hoyas Unlimited, a longtime committee chair for the Alumni Admissions Program, and since 1999 has taught as an adjunct professor for the School of Continuing Studies. A member of the Board of Governors and Alumni Senate since 1981, he served as vice president of the Alumni Association 1986 to 1992 and president of the Alumni Association from 1994 to 1996, implementing the Association's first strategic plan in 1995. For over 25 years, he has served as the chairman of the Athletic Hall of Fame Committee and the master of ceremonies for that annual dinner.

In 2014, Quirk was honored at the football program's 50th anniversary dinner, where the team named its volunteer of the year award in Quirk's honor.

Dr. Robert T. Scanlon M.D.
(1927-1995)

MD 1954
Kensington, MD

Dr. Robert Scanlon, former Georgetown professor and president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, CA on April 11, 1992.

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1927, Scanlon served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and graduated from Manhattan College. He earned his medical degree from Georgetown in 1954 and joined the medical school's faculty, specializing in pediatric allergy and immunology. In private practice since 1962, he served as president of Georgetown's clinical studies program in allergies for 30 years, and was a past president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

In 1985, Dr. Scanlon was named Doctor of the Year by the Georgetown Clinical Society.

Scanlon served 11 years on the Board of Governors from 1984 to 1995, the last six of those years as a vice president of the Association representing the Medical Alumni Board. He died in 1995 at the age of 68.