Jersey City – Thomas C. Fox, a former reporter, editor and publisher of the National Catholic Reporter (NCR), will serve as the speaker at Saint Peter’s College 116th commencement exercises on Sunday, May 20 at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. The College will award degrees to 895 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m.
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Thomas C. Fox served as the speaker for the College’s 116th commencement exercises.
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Fox has written for several newspapers and magazines throughout his career, including The New York Times, The Detroit Free Press, The Washington Star and Time. He served as editor of NCR for 17 years from 1980-1997, the longest tenure of anyone in that position. The NCR Board of Directors appointed him publisher in 1997. Fox served in that role for eight years before retiring in 2005.
Born in Milwaukee, Fox excelled in academics and as a two-sport All-American in football and baseball at Marquette University High School. He received football scholarship offers from numerous schools, including Notre Dame, Dartmouth College and the Naval Academy. He accepted an offer from Stanford and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in history. Fox worked in Vietnam from 1966-1968 with International Voluntary Services and assisted those displaced by the war. He later earned a Master’s in Southeast Asian Studies from Yale University and began a career in journalism, reporting from Vietnam and later in the United States.
Fox and his wife, Kim Hoa, live in Kansas City and have three grown children. He continues to write for NCR and other publications and does a weekly podcast, interviewing authors for the NCR website. Fox has written a number of books. He co-authored Children of Vietnam and authored Iraq: Military Victory, Moral Defeat; Catholicism on the Web; Sexuality and Catholicism; and Pentecost in Asia: A New Way of Being Church. He has spoken widely on Catholic matters and has appeared as a guest on a number of television programs.
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| Class of 2007 Valedictorian Kristofer Gryte delivered the student commencement address. |
Honorary Degree Recipients
Saint Peter’s will also award a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, to three individuals. They include:
- Rev. James N. Loughran, S.J. (posthumously): Father Loughran served as the 21st President of Saint Peter’s College from 1995 until his death in December. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1958, was ordained to the priesthood in 1970 and took his final vows as a Jesuit in 1978.
Father Loughran served as President at four colleges. He was the President of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California from 1984-1991; Acting President of Brooklyn College in 1992 and Interim President of Mount Saint Mary’s College in Emmittsburg, Maryland from 1993-1994.
Two administrators from Saint Benedict’s Prep, a Benedictine school for boys in Newark, NJ founded in 1868, will also receive honorary degrees. They are:
- Rev. Edwin D. Leahy, O.S.B. Father Leahy became headmaster of Saint Benedict’s Prep in 1972. He took his first vows in 1966 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1972. Fr. Edwin began his teaching career at St. Benedict’s in 1967.
- Right Rev. Melvin J. Valvano, O.S.B. Father Valvano serves as president of Saint Benedict’s. He took his first vows in 1959 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1965.
Saint Peter’s College is the Jesuit College of New Jersey. Founded in 1872, Saint Peter’s has an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs. The main campus is located in Jersey City. The College has a branch campus for adults in Englewood Cliffs, NJ and also offers courses at various corporate sites at the Jersey City waterfront and in South Amboy, NJ.
Saint Peter’s College awarded degrees to 895 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
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