The Atwood ’16 and Alice Manley ’17 P’45 Achievement Award was established in 1998 to recognize individuals whose dedication has strengthened St. Lawrence through the University’s Legacy Society. In 2026, the award was presented to John Crowley ’76 in recognition of his extraordinary commitment to the University’s future.
In 2025, when John Crowley ’76 began thinking about his upcoming 50th Reunion, he reflected on what St. Lawrence has meant to him over the course of his life. He kept coming back to the friendships and relationships that have sustained him, both personally and professionally.
John has also always thought of his St. Lawrence experience as one that taught him to “fly without a net,” crediting his years on campus with instilling the adaptability and confidence to navigate new challenges. These are skills that became the foundation for a lifetime of success.
To honor the impact St. Lawrence has had on him and mark his milestone Reunion in a lasting way, John made a transformative $5 million unrestricted legacy gift — one of the most significant planned gifts in the University’s recent history. The gift will support the University’s highest priorities, and its unrestricted nature gives President Kate Morris and the Board of Trustees the flexibility to direct funds where they are needed most, now and in the years ahead.
While he has remained connected to St. Lawrence through class reunions and his fraternity brothers since graduation, this planned gift represents a renewed and profound investment in the University’s future.
“John’s generosity is as inspiring as it is transformative and demonstrates the tremendous impact alumni can have on their alma mater," says President Kate Morris. “The Board of Trustees and I are deeply grateful for his trust in our leadership and his commitment to the next generation of Laurentians.”
Join John as a member of the Legacy Society
John, who earned his bachelor’s degree in English and government, has built a distinguished 30-plus-year career as an entrepreneur and global financial executive, specializing in corporate restructuring, developed and emerging markets, and strategic consulting. That career has taken him from leadership roles in the United States to work in London, Ukraine, Ghana, and Pakistan, including serving as Chief Financial Officer of FairPoint Communications and as Managing Director for Alex. Brown International in London.
He credits much of that success to the network he built at St. Lawrence, particularly through the former Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. “A lot of the really interesting opportunities I had in my life were because of people I knew,” Crowley says. “When I got out of school, I went into investment banking. Five years later, my fraternity brother, Mike Tuttle ’77, called me about an opportunity, and that turned out to be a pivotal point in my career.”
He learned the value of that network early, pointing out that he would never have passed an early-morning history class if Kevin Eagan ’77 hadn't knocked on his door every day at 7:45 a.m. More broadly, Crowley credits his liberal arts education with preparing him to solve complex, unforeseen problems, a skill he believes is even more crucial in today’s rapidly changing world.
“St. Lawrence taught me to learn as I go along,” he says. “It’s a skill that’s been invaluable throughout my career, especially when I was working in places like Russia, Ukraine, and Serbia.”