FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANHATTAN COLLEGE HONORED FRANKLIN LAKES, NEW JERSEY, RESIDENT GEORGE F. KNAPP ’53 AT ANNUAL ACADEMIC EVENT

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Manhattan College recently presented alumnus and trustee emeritus

George F. Knapp ’53 with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at this year’s Fall Honors Convocation. The event was held Sunday, October 17 on campus in the College’s Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers. During the ceremony, some 70 seniors were inducted into prestigious Epsilon Sigma Pi, the oldest college-wide honor society on campus.

Epsilon Sigma Pi recognizes seniors who have earned at least a 3.5 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for six consecutive semesters with no academic failures.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Knapp said that while it has been more than 50 years since his first year at the College, the mission and the institution’s purpose has remained unaltered. “When I came to Manhattan in 1949, in the aftermath of World War II and the beginning of the Korean War, the [College’s] mission then, as now, was the same: excellence in teaching, respect for individual dignity, social justice in the LaSallian tradition,” he said. “Though we are once again, as a nation, faced with another war, with all the attendant uncertainties, you can be assured that the knowledge, skills and moral foundation acquired at Manhattan equip you to deal with the world … You, as honored students, reflect the Mission’s values.”

Mr. Knapp, who was elected trustee emeritus of the College in 2003, is a retired telecommunications executive who established a distinguished career in the telecom industry. He spent many years in numerous management and executive leadership roles at ITT before his retirement in 1987. Following his retirement, Mr. Knapp joined a venture capital investment firm in Morristown, N.J., where he served on the boards of numerous start-up companies and was the forwarding director of International Communications Company of Florida, eventually sold to WorldCom in 2001. As a college trustee, Mr. Knapp served on the finance committee, which he chaired from 1988 to 2003. He also was a member of the executive committee and investments committee.

Along with Mr. Knapp, who graduated from the College in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, four additional trustee members were honored for their years of dedicated service to Manhattan. Michael F. Bette ’59, John P. Lawler ’55, Valentine A. Lehr ’62 and John L. Paluszek ’55 also were awarded honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees at the Fall Honors Convocation.

Manhattan College was founded in 1853 in the Lasallian heritage of excellence in teaching inspired by the Christian Brothers. The College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of study in the area of the arts, business, education, engineering and science. For more information, visit www.manhattan.edu.

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