Rider University receives largest gift in its history

Rider's business college named for distinguished alumnus Norm Brodsky '64

News provided by

Oct 21, 2019, 12:26 ET

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J., Oct. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Rider University's College of Business Administration will be known as the Norm Brodsky College of Business after a multimillion-dollar investment by the alumnus and his wife.

Norm Brodsky ’64 speaks at the ceremony unveiling the Norm Brodsky College of Business, wearing the purple and gold beanie customarily worn by Rider freshmen of his day.

Rider celebrated the news Oct. 17 with a ceremony to honor entrepreneur Norm Brodsky '64 and his wife and business partner, Elaine, and to announce their $10 million gift. It will endow a scholarship for business students and support future business school projects. Their gift is the largest donation ever received by the University and The Norm Brodsky College of Business is the first college at the University to be named for an alumnus.

"This extraordinary gift exemplifies Norm and Elaine's deep passion for Rider and its students," said Rider University President Gregory G. Dell'Omo, Ph.D. "In recognizing this unprecedented level of support, we look to the future, and to what can be accomplished because of the generosity of the Brodskys. The impact of this gift will be nothing short of remarkable for our University."

Brodsky is a businessman, serial entrepreneur, author and frequently sought commentator. Brodsky received a Bachelor of Science in Commerce with a major in accounting from Rider and a Bachelor of Laws from Brooklyn Law School. He founded eight successful businesses, including CitiStorage, the largest privately owned archive business in the country.

Brodsky credits his time at Rider with giving him a solid foundation upon which he built his career. "The most important factor in starting and running a business are the numbers," he said. "You have to be able to understand the numbers, and as an accounting major I got that background early on."

Brodsky is an adjunct professor at Rider and has provided students with unique and important networking opportunities. In 2018 and 2019, the Brodskys sponsored a trip to the Inc. 5000 Conference. For the past two years, they have supported the nationwide, high school business competition at the University to engage young entrepreneurs. The competition's grand prize is a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to Rider. This summer, Brodsky was instrumental in the development of Rider's Innovation Intensive at the University of Oxford, which gave 25 Rider students and recent alumni the opportunity to learn from 14 CEOs.

"Norm has continually sought and developed ways to allow our students to get valuable exposure to the business world, giving them insight and the opportunity to ask questions about how business is practiced today," said Dr. Eugene Kutcher, the College's interim dean. "This knowledge is exactly the type of information to which all leaders of developing businesses wish they had access, so these opportunities give our students a leg up on competition once they graduate."

Rider's 154-year-old business college offers 16 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and an array of minors and certificate programs. Both the business and accounting programs are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. Dual accreditation in business administration and accounting is held by only 2% of programs worldwide.

SOURCE Rider University