College of The Holy Cross - Alumni

Alumni

Holy Cross has more than 35,000 alumni as of January 2007. There are 39 Holy Cross alumni clubs in the U.S. and 1 international club. A number of Holy Cross alumni have made significant contributions in the fields of government, law, academia, business, arts, journalism, and athletics, among others. As of 2008, the alumni median salary for a recent Holy Cross graduate is $50,200; after 15 years, that number jumps to $106,000.

Clarence Thomas, United States Supreme Court Justice; Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and NBC's The Chris Matthews Show; and Basketball Hall of Fame members and Boston Celtics immortals Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn are among the college's most famous alumni. LSD pioneer Timothy Leary was a student at Holy Cross, though he withdrew after two years. Michael Harrington, author of "The Other America" and an influential figure in initiating the 1960s War on Poverty was a graduate of the College, as was the famed pacifist leader Phillip Berrigan.

Bob Casey, Sr., Pennsylvania governor, Bob Casey, Jr., his son, Pennsylvania treasurer and U.S. Senator, and Edward D. DiPrete, Governor of Rhode Island are among the most notable alumni with involvement in politics. Jon Favreau who was chief speechwriter for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign for President of the United States. Upon Barack Obama's election, Favreau was selected to serve in President Barack Obama's White House as Director of Speechwriting. Mark Kennedy Shriver, member of the Kennedy political family and current Vice President and Managing Director of U.S. Programs for the charity Save the Children, graduated from Holy Cross in 1986.

In 2003, an honorary degree and public platform was given to allegedly pro-choice Holy Cross alumnus Chris Matthews despite pro-life alumni objection. College President Fr. Michael McFarland defended the invitation and degree, despite clear direction from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop policies and Catholic Church policies never to give a public platform to those at odds with central holdings of the Church, such as the teachings on abortion. Father McFarland, along with the majority of the current Holy Cross community continue to defend this, stating that while Chris Matthews is pro-choice, that is not his defining characteristic and he did not talk purely about abortion in his speech.

Several alumni have held top positions in the world of business and finance: Bob Wright, former Chairman & CEO, NBC Universal, and Vice Chairman, General Electric; James David Power III, J.D. Power and Associates founder; William J. McDonough, former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and current Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch.

In media and the arts, Holy Cross has several distinguished alumni: Neil Hopkins, actor best known for his roles in Lost and Nip/Tuck; Bill Simmons, ESPN.com sports columnist; Dan Shaughnessy, sports columnist for the Boston Globe; Bartlett Sher, Tony Award-winning Broadway director; Joe McGinniss, bestselling author of The Selling of the President, Fatal Vision, and other books; Edward P. Jones, 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction for writing The Known World; Billy Collins, 2001-03 Poet Laureate of the United States; and Dave Anderson, New York Times sports columnist, 1981 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for commentary; and Jack Higgins, editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Sun-Times, 1989 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. In art and architecture, Vito Acconci.

In the sciences, Holy Cross also has several notable alumni, including Joseph Murray, winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Medicine; immunologist Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); and MacArthur Foundation "genius" bioengineer Jim Collins.