Read more: Irish America Hall of Fame inductees are announced - SEE PHOTOS
Irish America magazine has announced that Dr. John L. Lahey is the 2011 Irish American of the Year.
Previous honorees who accepted the award include President Clinton, Coca-Cola President Donald R. Keough, New York Cardinal John O’Connor and actress Maureen O’Hara.
Dr. Lahey, the president of Quinnipiac University located in Hamden, Connecticut, will be honored for his work in pioneering collegiate study of Ireland's Great Hunger and his remarkable commitment to promoting Irish American heritage.
Dr. Lahey will be presented as Irish American of the Year at this year’s Irish America Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Tuesday, March 15 at the New York Yacht Club.
Dr. Lahey is also the vice chairman-director of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, of which he has been a member for over 20 years. He served as grand marshal of the parade in 1997. In recognition of this year's singular anniversary of the parade, the longest running in American history, Quinnipiac University Press has published a comprehensive and richly illustrated history, Celebrating 250 Years of the St. Patrick's Day Parade (Quinnipiac Unversity Press, 2011).
Dr. Lahey has devoted much of his time to educating the public about the true causes of Ireland’s Great Hunger. A highly respected voice in academia, he has long championed the need for the history of the Great Irish Hunger to be accurately and completely told.
With the help of an endowment from Murray and Marvin Lender and under Dr. Lahey's leadership, Quinnipiac developed Ireland's Great Hunger Collection, a vast exhibition of artwork, books and educational materials on the subject. Permanently housed on campus, the emotionally-rich collection was exihibited to acclaim in New York last summer and is a tremendous testament to Dr. Lahey's commitment to Irish studies and culture, and his leadership at Quinnipiac.
As President of Quinnipiac University for the past 24 years, Dr. Lahey has spearheaded the university’s emergence as one of the leading educational institutions in the U.S. He has increased Quinnipiac’s endowment from $5 million to $260 million, guided a comprehensive building program, and directed a more than 300 percent increase in student enrollment.
Quinnipiac was listed among the top ten regional universities by “US News and World Report” and also is in “The Princeton Review’s” Best 373 Colleges in 2011.
Dr. Lahey’s story began in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx. His mother, Caroline, was a teacher at St. Margaret’s School for 40 years and his father was a long-time member of the New York City bricklayers’ union and founder of the Riverdale Little League.
Dr. Lahey earned a PhD from the University of Miami and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy from the University of Dayton, and a second master's degree in higher education administration from Columbia University.
Irish America is deeply to honored present Dr. John L. Lahey as the 2011 Irish American of the Year in recognition of his tireless leadership in the Irish American community and his devotion to educating the public about Ireland’s Great Hunger.
Read more: Irish America Hall of Fame inductees are announced - SEE PHOTOS
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.xushuhua62 | Feb 20, 2011, 11:09 PM EST
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tpmcmanigal | Feb 19, 2011, 03:16 PM EST
Yes would like to second Colleen there. Marching out that his father was in the bricklayers' union and we see his anti-union ways is typical of all the people we are told we should esteem in the Irish community. Oh how far we have fallen from our ideals. And his homophobia should certainly be challenged!
sirpeter | Feb 19, 2011, 11:10 AM EST
Well Done!!Dr. John L. Lahey. You tell the world the true fact's. To read British University level lectures on what should be known as "The Great British Murder of the Irish" would make you seethe with rage. The way British Universities and Irish Universities to a much lesser degree, omit and gloss over hugely important facts. Fact's that if thought and acknowledged by the world would allow the Irish nation to move on. But like Bloody Sunday the families were denied acknowledgment and justice for the innocent people killed for almost 40 years. This is the burden successive British government's place on Irish people in unspoken collusion with our "Don't rock the boat with the Brits" Irish government. The Jews get to call their historic murders by the names, holocaust and genocide which is accurate and truthful. But the Irishman doesn't even get a watered down version..We get "Great Hunger",which is a very tame word for a million men,women and children,starving to death in their own excrement,in condition's every bit as bad as Bergen-Belsen. We also get the word "Famine"..A word that doesn't even apply to to the "The Great British Murder of the Irish" There was no FAMINE. A famine is defined by a general scarcity of food. There was NO scarcity. The ports of Ireland were Jam-Packed with food to feed EIGHTEEN times the amount of people who starved to death. Food taken from the starving people by way of rent,under threat of eviction AND eviction for those who helped any family who was evicted. Food taken from their mud cabins and been exported to England under the protection of armed British soldiers.
sirpeter | Feb 19, 2011, 11:09 AM EST
Cont) For a nation who watched the fires of hell rain down upon it's people,poured by a hand wrapped in a Union Jack,and to this day,not even have the decency to send some British representative to the recent Commemoration of a million of our people dead. Tells me we must continue to beat down the doors of Westminster till they acknowledge "The Great British Murder of the Irish" Then and ONLY then will the cry's of the last starving child be put to rest. This is not playing the Irish victim. It's making sure future Irish generations know the truth,and not put the blame on some poxy potato blight, as the history books of to-day would have you believe.
Irishlassred | Feb 18, 2011, 10:03 PM EST
Great honor, congratulations!~
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Mike7571 | Feb 18, 2011, 08:31 PM EST
I really hadn't heard of this gentleman, but thanks to RiotColleen I believe he's a really good guy. Congratulations and God Bless!
RiotColleen | Feb 18, 2011, 04:09 PM EST
A known union buster.....as Irish American of the year? Really? Not to mention that he is also involved in a hate group that bars anyone who is pro-choice or a member of the LGBT community in its ranks or to participate in its events. (This hate group is called the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee.) Clearly, Lahey's understanding of human rights only applies to some people and only in the past, not the present.
Murph46 | Feb 18, 2011, 02:24 PM EST
I would like to know how to access his work on the Hunger! Good Choice!
kathykelly | Feb 18, 2011, 11:37 AM EST
Dr. Lahey is a wonderful choice. I'm particularly pleased and impressed with his work on the Hunger.
cillowen | Feb 18, 2011, 11:08 AM EST
who is he? like to know of his accomplishments.