Rockefeller College Receives Gifts from Alumni
Two seven-figure gifts totaling nearly $3.5 million will enable Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy to attract and support outstanding graduate students.
A $1.35 million estate gift from Ricardo Gonzalez ’75, M.P.A.’77 and his wife, Evelyn, will create a scholarship for graduate students who represent the next generation of leaders in the federal government. Their gift recognizes the significant impact that professors Harold W. Adams, Abdo I. Baaklini, and Richard I. Nuñez made on Rockefeller College students, as well as the experience that Ricardo and Evelyn enjoyed as federal employees serving domestically and internationally.
“All three professors always took time for students,” Ricardo Gonzalez noted. He added that Baaklini taught his students to view issues from an international perspective, Adams taught them to think critically, and Nuñez taught them that “whatever you do in government is based on laws and regulations, not personal opinions, not political beliefs.”
His Rockefeller College education served Gonzalez well in his 36 years of federal service with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare; the General Accounting Office; and the U.S. Army. “I had a great career,” he said. “Whoever thought a kid from the South Bronx would go this far?”
In addition, an alumnus who wishes to remain anonymous has documented a $2.1 million bequest to the college. The gift will ultimately support students pursuing graduate study in political science and public administration.