Mary Higgins Clark Shares Insights on Writing and Education

Mary Higgins Clark answered questions from Mary Bly (right), and
audience members at McNally Ampitheatre.
Photo by Tom Stoelker

“I felt like I was the child of a lesser god, because I did not have that diploma in my hands.” 

Best selling author Mary Higgins Clark, FCLC ’79, minced few words during an appearance at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. 

The reigning queen of suspense’s appearance, along with Fordham professor of English Mary Bly, Ph.D., was the closing keynote of the annual conference of Jesuit Advancement Administrators (JAA), held at Fordham from July 13-15.

For “Philanthropy and its Vital Impact on Education,” Higgins Clark spoke at length about what it takes to be a writer (you have to be a good story teller), her deep connections to Fordham, (she first visited the Rose Hill campus when she was 19 to attend a tea dance) and what a Jesuit education gave her (the ability to think).

Speaking to an auditorium filled with development professionals, Higgins Clark called herself living proof of the power of philanthropy. The sudden death of her father when she was 11 thrust her family into a precarious financial situation, but a scholarship enabled her to attend high school at the Villa Maria Academy in the Bronx. 

And although she signed a six-figure writing contract while attending night classes at Fordham College Lincoln Center, she stayed on to finish a degree in philosophy. 

Her 43 books have sold 100 million copies in the United States alone, and so Higgins Clark in turn has given back to Fordham; last year she pledged $2 million to create the Mary Higgins Clark Chair in Creative Writing.

“We must give back. There’s that saying, ‘Much is expected of those to whom much has been given,’” she said.

“So many people simply need help, and we all know the price of education. It only happens because people reach out to donors.”

Throughout the morning, Higgins Clark regaled the audience with stories from her past and her family, using story-telling skills she said here honed while growing up in a large Irish family. 

She compared suspense writing to going to a cocktail party. When you meet someone, you don’t want to hear their entire life story; rather you want the highlights.

“Especially in suspense, you don’t give 20 minutes to the weather and the atmosphere, and someone is having a cup of tea. You’ve got to grab the audience,” she said.

She also said social engagements are also key to engaging potential donors.

“I have said when I die, make it a party. I enjoy parties so much, if it’s good enough, I’ll climb out of my casket to go to it.”

Watch the full interview here.

—Patrick Verel

Fordham Founder's Award Dinner and Campaign Close Celebration

The Thirteenth Annual Fordham Founder's Award Dinner

and Campaign Close Celebration

March 31, 2014

Founder's Award recipients Linda and Bill Stavropoulos

Founder's Award recipient Judy Livingston Moore with her son, James Moore, LAW '15; Joseph M. McShane, S.J., President of Fordham; and Bob Daleo, chair of the University's Board of Trustees

Pat and Jim Houlihan

David S. Ciancimino, S.J.; His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan; Father McShane; His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan; Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America; the Most Rev. William Francis Murphy, Bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre

Emcee Bill Baker and Charles Osgood

Tom Salice and Susan Conley Salice

Father McShane poses for a selfie with scholars Alexandria Johnson, FCLC '14, Sal Cocchiaro, GSB '17, Robyn Ayers, FCLC '16, Gabriela Cinkova, GSB '15, and Christopher Wilson, FCLC '17

Cardinal Dolan with former Fordham Board of Trustees chair John Tognino

Maureen Callanan, left, Peggy Hassett, right, and Jack Kehoe, center

Jim Buckman and Stephanie Gaitley

Cardinal Dolan with Tom Kavaler and the Honorable Loretta Preska

Peggy Smyth and Sly McClearn

Ed O'Brien, Jr., Ed O'Brien, Sr., Jack Kehoe

Barbara Costantino, Mo Cunniffe, Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, John Costantino

Emcee Bill Baker, center, with Founder's Awards

Regina Pitaro and Mario Gabelli

Cosette Carlomusto, FCLC junior and choir soloist

Darlene Luccio Jordan

Mary Higgins Clark

The evening's spread

The Fordham Founder's Scholars

Founder's Scholar Alexandria Johnson

Father McShane announces campaign close

Hail Rams of Fordham

Fordham senior Max Williams joins Father McShane in song

An overview of the festivities

New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade 2011

Fordham University enjoyed pride of place at the 250th New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark, FCLC ’79, served as Grand Marshal, while more than 500 Fordham alumni, students, family and friends marched up Fifth Avenue as one of the largest collegiate contingencies in attendance.

“When you march along Fifth Avenue,” said Paul Reilly, FCRH ’80, “the crowd just loves you. You’re like a rock star. The warmth you feel coming from the sidewalk is amazing. Everybody on Fifth Avenue knows someone who either went to Fordham, or knows somebody who wishes they went to Fordham.”

Richard S. “Dick” Colt, FCRH ’67, and Edward H. Winkler, FCRH ’67, LAW ’72, served as University banner bearers during the parade.

For the former classmates, it was a return to form. They marched in the parade four years straight as members of Fordham’s ROTC program.

“We’re really just continuing what we did back then,” said Winkler, a retired colonel in the U.S. Army and a 2008 inductee into the Ram Battalion Hall of Fame. “But it’s still a great honor.”

Earlier that morning, alumni gathered at the Princeton Club for a pre-parade brunch, hosted by the University’s Office of Alumni Relations. Christopher Maginn, Ph.D., director of Fordham’s Institute of Irish Studies, and Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University, addressed the group before a performance by the Broome County Celtic Pipes and Drummers, which included Fordham alumnus Paul Sweeney, FCRH ’84, and his son, Patrick, a sophomore at Fordham College at Rose Hill.

“This morning, after I delivered the homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, I prayed at the crypt of [Fordham’s founder, Archbishop] John Hughes and thanked him for the crazy notion of a dream he had 170 years ago,” Father McShane said. “I thanked him for the great grace of Fordham.”

With this grace in mind, Fordham alumni throughout the tri-state area traveled to New York for a chance to march with their alma mater.

Denis Dineen, FCRH ’74, drove all the way down from Albany. “It’s long day, but it’s worth it,” he said, before marching in his third parade. “It’s a chance to get down to New York City and be among some of my Fordham friends and fellow alumni.”

Though he only traveled across town, Matt Sheehan, a third-year student at Fordham Law School, appreciated the significance of marching with Fordham.

“I just wanted to be a part of the day,” he said. “I’m happy to represent Fordham and celebrate the day with friends, Fordham alumni and my fellow Irishmen and Irishwomen.”

—Miles Doyle, FCRH ’01

Some more images from the day, courtesy of Chris Taggart.

Alumni and Friends of Fordham Dominate at 2011 Irish America Hall of Fame

When Irish America magazine celebrates the inductees at the 2011 Irish America Hall of Fame awards luncheon on March 15, Fordham alumni and friends will be a big part of the proceedings.

The ceremony at the New York Yacht Club will honor Dr. Kevin Cahill, FCRH '57, director of Fordham's Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs; bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark, FCLC '79, grand marshal of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan; William J. Flynn, GSAS '51, chairman emeritus of Mutual of America, and champion of the Irish peace process in his role as chairman of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy; and diplomat Jean Kennedy Smith, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Fordham in 1995 (the same year Mary Robinson, then president of Ireland, delivered the commencement address).

Honorees Denis Kelleher, founder and CEO of Wall Street Access, and Chuck Feeney, Irish American billionaire philanthropist, also have close ties to the University. They are being honored along with James Watson, Ph.D., co-discoverer of the double helical structure of DNA (for which he received a Nobel Prize in 1962), and Michael Flatley, choreographer and dancer, and the creator of The Lord of the Dance.

The Irish America Hall of Fame honors “the extraordinary achievements of Irish-American leaders — from their significant accomplishments and contributions to American society, to their personal commitment to safeguarding their Irish heritage and the betterment of Ireland.” Irish America magazine has been in print for more than a quarter century, and is a leading publication of Irish interest in North America.