As a high school student, Gene McQuade walked into a college fair at his high school in the Bronx and learned that St. Bonaventure University was more than just a place where they played great basketball. Hoping to eventually study law, McQuade enrolled at St. Bonaventure, where he changed his major from pre-law to accounting.
The university stands forever indebted to him for making that choice.
A 1971 alumnus, he parlayed his accounting degree into a remarkably successful career in banking. McQuade began his career at KPMG Peat Marwick, held executive positions at Manufacturers Hanover, Bank of America, FreddieMac and Merrill Lynch Banks before becoming CEO of Citibank in 2009.
McQuade and his wife, Peggy — a Villanova alum who’s come to admire the Franciscan values her husband cherishes — committed $2 million in 2011 to establish the McQuade Center for Accounting Excellence. The McQuades’ gift was given to support scholarships and programs for students and faculty.
The gift is emblematic of a man from a large family on the lower east side of Manhattan who never forgot where he came from, a man who always remembers that people starting out in life often need a break — not a handout, but a hand up.