The year is 1964. A young, tall, barely-turned- 17-year-old boy from “down the line” in Mahanoy City, who spent most of his early years growing up in a coal company- owned clapboard house without a bathroom or hot water, arrives on the campus of The University of Scranton carrying nothing but a single suitcase and somewhere between $10 and $20 in cash.
He is soon told he won’t be moving into the dorms, but will instead be joining 46 of his fellow freshmen in temporary housing at the nearby Hotel Casey until further notice. After his very first class, he secures a job repairing books in “some dark recess” of the Alumni Memorial Library. By the end of his first week of classes, he will believe he “has it made” as he is living in a big hotel in a new city, he has a job, and he is receiving a first-class education. Then, by the end of his second week of classes, he will realize he is likely “the poorest kid” at the school. His name is Edward R. Leahy, and he considers every day at Scranton a “day of wonderment.”
The year is 2023. A distinguished, tall, somewhat-older- than-17-year-old man who resides in one of the wealthiest communities in the United States arrives on the campus of The University of Scranton carrying nothing at all, but he won’t be leaving empty-handed. Before he departs that evening, the University will honor him and his wife, Patricia, with the President’s Medal, an award of such esteem that it has been bestowed upon only a handful of people in the University’s 135-year history. The University will present this award to them for their lifetime of service to Scranton, and a crowd consisting of 350 of the University’s most generous alumni, parents and friends will applaud the announcement of the couple’s latest gift to Scranton (and the largest single-donation gift in the University’s history), a $10 million donation that will help kindle the fires of others for decades to come. His name is Edward R. Leahy ’68, H’01, and, nearly 60 years after first setting foot on campus, he is experiencing yet another day of wonderment.
As he addresses the assembled crowd, he quotes two lines of verse from one of his favorite poets, Wallace Stevens.
“‘Let be be finale of seem,” he says. “‘The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.’”
In the 59 years between those moments, the man at the center of our tale lived the kind of life the boy he once was could only encounter in the books he devoured so voraciously that one gets the sense that, even then, he knew they were a sort of appetizer course to the banquet of his life’s work. It is the type of story we never tire of telling, a ramble in which natural ability, hard work, good humor, and a little luck lead to an extraordinary life. This is the story of one person’s interpretation of the Wallace Stevens poem writ large across the landscape of time, and how he learned to seize the day at The University of Scranton.
Mirabile Dictu
It has often been said that big things have small beginnings, and, in Ed Leahy’s case, that is absolutely true.
“Most of my early years were spent in what the genteel would call a ‘suburb’ of Mahanoy City, but what the cognoscenti would call a ‘coal patch.’” -- Edward R. Leahy ’68, H’01
“We lived on Reading Company land in a Reading Company house 90 feet from the breaker on the left and the mouth of the coal mine on the right. I washed the coal dust from my eyes and ears every day.
“I don’t recall thinking that life there was bad, but in that environment, I honestly can’t remember that I ever thought of going to college. It just wasn’t in the game plan.”
That all changed when Leahy’s uncle, Edward P. Leahy, presented him with a University of Scranton application and suggested that he fill it out.
“He wanted me to go to college, and to a Jesuit college. That was an era when if someone in your family told you to do something, you did it,” he said. “So, I applied to The University of Scranton, and, mirabile dictu, was admitted.”
Ed dove headfirst into student life at Scranton, joining ROTC, the Class Senate, the Debate Club, the Political Science Club, Student Council, and a slew of other student organizations while playing lots of intramural basketball. While he felt accepted by his peers, he also knew they were from very different worlds.
“I liked the other kids. We got along,” he said. “But I knew that I was different. They spoke differently than I did. They dressed a little differently. They had things like khakis and blazers and loafers; I had a pair of black pants and black-laced shoes. They had been places that, honestly, I’d only seen on postcards. They had been to New York. Some of them were from New York.
“Certainly, I was never embarrassed by any of this, and I never felt that I didn’t fit in, but it was just a fact.”
While one can imagine being discouraged by those differences, Ed saw them in a different light.
“I absolutely loved my time here in part because of my background,” he said. “I was learning different things every single day. For me, quietly, every day was a day of wonderment.”
An Open World
Upon graduating from Scranton, Ed was commissioned in the U.S. Army, later serving as a Captain in Military Intelligence. He attended Boston College Law School as a Presidential Scholar, was a member of the Order of the Coif, and was elected Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. While at Boston College, he met his future wife, who would go on to devote her entire professional life to public service.
Following law school, Ed served as a law clerk to Judge Ruggero Aldisert on the United States Court of Appeals, and then to Justice William J. Brennan Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court, the greatest honor any young lawyer could hope to achieve. He became a partner in two prestigious law firms, where he specialized in international business, international corporate work and international litigation. Far from finished, he then founded a small investment bank and co-founded an international business advisory firm. He subsequently taught law at both Boston College and at Oxford University, where he was a member of the Faculty of Law and was the HLA Hart Fellow in Law and Philosophy.
Through it all, he never failed to credit Scranton with laying the foundation for his success.
“Over the years, wherever I’ve been, no matter what I’ve done, I always work in the fact … that I went to The University of Scranton,” he said. “This place opened the world to me.”
A Man For And With Others
In 1988, Ed and Patricia created the Edward P. Leahy Scholarship in memory of the uncle who encouraged Ed to apply to the University. Ed also created the annual James C. Doyle ’66 Stock Trading Competition in memory of Jim Doyle, Ed’s college friend and a stock broker. For more than 20 years, the competition’s fund has given a cash award to the Kania School of Management student who has the best stock picking record from October to April.
He was also one of the founders of the Scully Scholars program at the University, a program that honors the memory of the late Professor Timothy H. Scully of the Political Science Department by providing stipends for students to spend summers interning with Congressmen, Senators, or members of the executive branch in Washington, D.C., or legislators or executive branch members in state capitals.
In 1993, the University honored Ed with the Alumni Achievement Award for Distinguished and Exceptional Attainment. In 1994, Ed joined the University’s Board of Trustees, where he helped guide the University as its Chair from1998-2000. In 2001, the University bestowed upon Ed an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
A book collector for more than 50 years, Ed assembled one of the greatest private collections of rare books in the United States, stretching from the 13th to the 21st century, and he exhibited selections from that collection in four unique installations at the Weinberg Memorial Library.
Additionally, he donated several books to the University, including his most recent donation, the First Illustrated Spiritual Exercises, published in 1593 and written by Jerome Nadal, S.J., one of the first Jesuits and a friend of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
Then-President Bill Clinton greets Rev. Joseph A. Panuska, S.J., then-University president, and Patricia Leahy at the White House.
Patricia Leahy: A Woman for and With Others
Patricia Leahy has devoted her entire professional life to public service. She spent 18 years on the staff of the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, 13 of those years on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and five subsequent years in the Clinton Administration’s U.S. Department of Education, where she was responsible for legislation that affected individuals with disabilities. Finally, in 2002, she joined the National Rehabilitation Association, where she served as Director of Legislation and Public Policy for 16 years. Patricia is a much sought-after speaker and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Switzer Scholar Award.
In 1984, Ed and Patricia welcomed their son, Edward R. Leahy Jr., to the world. Tragically, Edward, whom Ed described as “a wonderful, happy child with multiple disabilities,” passed away in 1993, just before his ninth birthday. In 1994, the couple created the Edward R. Leahy Jr. Endowment at the University in Edward’s memory, the largest single endowment at Scranton. Over the years, the $5 million endowment has supported both the Leahy Community Health and Family Center and the Edward R. Leahy Jr. Clinic for the Uninsured, which provides free non-emergency healthcare to uninsured Lackawanna County residents, as well as physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, and a low vision clinic. A recent agreement between the University and Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine will further expand the reach and services offered by the Leahy Medical Clinic.
At the dedication of the Community Health and Family Center in 2003, Ed said, “We would not be here today if it were not for the courage and indomitable spirit of a little boy named Edward. His strength of character, in my opinion, touched so many people that in his memory, we’ve tried to engage in a continuous celebration of his life by helping others, particularly children, with special needs. This dedication today is a continuation of that celebration of Edward’s life, and it stands as truth that the youngest and the smallest of us can make a real difference.
“In the words of St. Matthew 18:2, ‘And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them.’”
The couple also initiated the annual U.S. Conference on disAbility, which celebrated its 23rd year in October. Additionally, their contributions have supported more than 30 faculty grants for research relating to individuals with disabilities. In 2015, the University dedicated Edward R. Leahy Jr. Hall in Edward Jr.’s honor.
The Finale Of Seem
Throughout his remarkable life, Ed has exemplified the ideal of the magis, never failing to do more, to see more, to be more than he was the day before. After accepting the President’s Medal, he clarified what he meant when he quoted Stevens with words of encouragement.
“Things are evanescent; what is here today is gone tomorrow,” he said. “The ice cream that is here now is not going to be here in a short period of time, and that includes both the opportunity and us!
“‘Let be be finale of seem.’ If you wish for it to happen, make it happen. You can do it.”
The year is 2023. Before exiting, stage right, into the stuff of Scranton legend with the President’s Medal in hand, Ed quoted Oscar Wilde in one last tip of the hat to the young man he was in 1964, a metaphorical wink and nod to the boy who knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that every day could be a day of wonderment.
“Oscar Wilde said, ‘Be yourself; everyone else is already taken,’” he said. “Absolutely, 100 percent true. When I got to The University of Scranton, I felt then that I knew who I was, and, during my time here, the University let me confirm that.
“During those four years, and in the many years since, I know I’ve grown, but I hope I haven’t changed.”
