| Year
|
Speaker(s)
|
Notes
|
Ref.
|
| 1941 |
Bishop J. Francis McIntyre |
|
[1]
|
| 1942 |
Rev. Robert Gannon |
|
[1]
|
| 1943 |
Rev. Robert Gannon |
|
[1]
|
| 1944 |
Rev. Robert Gannon |
|
[1]
|
| 1945 |
Major General Sir Walter Maxwell Scott |
|
[1]
|
| 1946 |
Gov. Thomas Dewey |
President Truman also received an honorary degree and gave an address but this was not at June Commencement, it was in May |
[1]
|
| 1947 |
Msgr. Ferdinand Vandry |
Director of Laval University |
[1]
|
| 1948 |
Rev. Robert Gannon |
|
[1]
|
| 1949 |
Rev. Laurence McGinley |
|
[1]
|
| 1950 |
Rev. Laurence McGinley |
|
[1]
|
| 1951 |
Rev. Laurence McGinley |
|
[1]
|
| 1952 |
Msgr. John Middleton |
Education secretary Arch of New York |
[1]
|
| 1953 |
Rev. Laurence McGinley |
|
[1]
|
| 1954 |
Robert D. Murphy |
Deputy Under Secretary of State |
[1]
|
| 1955 |
Rev. Laurence McGinley |
|
[1]
|
| 1956 |
Rev. Laurence McGinley |
|
[1]
|
| 1957 |
Rev. Laurence McGinley |
|
[1]
|
| 1958 |
W.A. Harriman |
Governor of New York |
[1]
|
| 1959 |
Cardinal Cushing |
|
[1]
|
| 1960 |
Dr. Charles H. Malik |
President of United Nations General Assembly |
[1]
|
| 1961 |
Joseph W. McGovern |
Fordham law professor and member of NYS Board of Regents |
[1]
|
| 1962 |
Teodoro Moscoso |
Coordinator of The Alliance for Progress |
[1]
|
| 1963 |
Sargent Shriver |
First Director of the Peace Corps |
[1]
|
| 1964 |
Francis Cardinal Spellman |
|
[1]
|
| 1965 |
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey |
|
[1]
|
| 1966 |
Rev. Vincent T O'Keefe |
President of Fordham |
[1]
|
| 1967 |
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy |
Former Attorney General and United States Senator |
[1]
|
| 1968 |
Leo McGlaughlin |
Eulogy and mass for Robert F. Kennedy |
[1]
|
| 1969 |
Sen. Ted Kennedy |
Former United States Senator |
[1]
|
| 1970 |
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan |
|
[1]
|
| 1971 |
James Hester |
President of New York University |
[1]
|
| 1972 |
Kurt Waldheim |
United Nations Secretary General and former Wehrmacht spy |
[1]
|
| 1973 |
Dr. Ernest Boyer |
Chancellor of State University of New York |
[1]
|
| 1974 |
Governor Malcolm Wilson |
|
[1]
|
| 1975 |
Judge William Hughes Mulligan |
|
[1]
|
| 1976 |
Governor Hugh Carey |
|
[1]
|
| 1977 |
Thomas A. Murphy |
Chairman of General Motors |
[1]
|
| 1978 |
Alan Alda |
Actor |
[1]
|
| 1979 |
Zbigniew Brzezinski |
National Security Advisor |
[1]
|
| 1980 |
Patricia Harris |
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services |
[1]
|
| 1981 |
Paulo Evaristo Cardinal Arns |
|
[1]
|
| 1982 |
Seamus Heaney |
Irish Poet |
[1]
|
| 1983 |
Felix G. Rohatyn |
Investment Banker and Diplomat |
[1]
|
| 1984 |
Rev. James Finlay |
Former President of Fordham |
[1]
|
| 1985 |
Gov. Mario Cuomo |
Governor of New York |
[1]
|
| 1986 |
Robert Hayes |
Founder of Coalition for the Homeless |
[1]
|
| 1987 |
Alphonse D'Amato |
New York Senator |
[1]
|
| 1988 |
Charles Osgood |
Radio and Television Commentator and Writer |
[1]
|
| 1989 |
Timothy Healy, S.J. |
Former President of Georgetown University |
[1]
|
| 1990 |
William P. Ford |
Lawyer and Bond Trader |
[1]
|
| 1991 |
Marian Wright Edelman |
Children's Rights Activist |
[1]
|
| 1992 |
Dr. John Brademas |
Indiana Congressman |
[1]
|
| 1993 |
Peter Steinfels |
Journalist specializing in religious topics |
[1]
|
| 1994 |
Jonathan Kozol |
Writer best known for his works on American public education |
[1]
|
| 1995 |
Mary Robinson |
President of Ireland |
[1]
|
| 1996 |
Rev. Joseph O'Hare |
Jesuit Priest, Civic Leader, and Fordham President |
[1]
|
| 1997 |
Mary Higgins Clark |
Author of Suspense Novels |
[1]
|
| 1998 |
Judge Joseph McLaughlin |
Judge |
[1]
|
| 1999 |
George Mitchell; David Copperfield |
Former Maine Senator; Magician |
[1]
|
| 2000 |
Vin Scully |
Sportscaster |
[1]
|
| 2001 |
Bill Cosby |
Comedian and Actor |
[1]
|
| 2002 |
Gerald Levin |
Mass-Media Businessman |
[1]
|
| 2003 |
Ted Koppel |
Broadcast Journalist |
[1]
|
| 2004 |
Tim Russert |
Television Journalist and Lawyer |
[1]
|
| 2005 |
John Sexton |
Lawyer and former President of New York University |
[1]
|
| 2006 |
Chris Matthews |
Political Commentator, Talk Show Host, and Author |
[1]
|
| 2007 |
Willie Randolph |
Major League Baseball Player |
[1]
|
| 2008 |
Charlie Rose |
Television Journalist and Talk Show Host |
[1]
|
| 2009 |
Tom Brokaw |
Journalist and Author |
[1]
|
| 2010 |
Mary McAleese |
President of Ireland |
[1]
|
| 2011 |
Brian Williams |
NBC News Journalist |
[1]
|
| 2012 |
John O. Brennan |
Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency |
[1]
|
| 2013 |
Richard Engel |
NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent |
[1]
|
| 2014 |
Tino Martinez |
Professional Baseball Player |
[1]
|
| 2015 |
Lordina Dramani Mahama |
First Lady of Ghana |
[1]
|
| 2016 |
David J. Skorton, M.D. |
Physician, academic, and CEO of the Smithsonian Institution |
[1]
|
| 2017 |
Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga; Sen. Chuck Schumer |
Salesian and Cardinal of the Catholic Church from Honduras; New York State Senator |
[2]
|
| 2018
|
Dennis Walcot
|
President & CEO of the Queens Library and former New York City schools chancellor
|
[3]
|
| 2019
|
Tim Shriver
|
Disability Rights activist and Chairman of the Special Olympics
|
[4]
|
| 2022
|
Calvin O. Butts
|
American Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church
|
[5]
|
| 2023
|
Stevie Wonder
|
American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer
|
[6]
|
| 2024
|
Joseph P. Kennedy III
|
United States Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs
|
[7]
|
