With a generous $1 million donation to create a needs-based fund to help academically successful incoming freshmen pay their tuition, Robert P. Luciano (’54) (left) has once again found a meaningful way to give back to Baruch College.
“When I went to Baruch, I paid about 15 bucks for the registration card, and now it costs $6,000,” says Luciano, whose gift establishes the Robert and Barbara Luciano Scholarship Fund. A previous donation created the Robert P. Luciano Chair of Health Care Policy. Of his philanthropy, he says, “It’s a sense of obligation to the College for giving me an education at virtually no cost.”
A retired CEO of pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough Corporation, Luciano was the first college graduate in his family and appreciates that many current Baruch students are also first-time attendees. Luciano earned his BBA while working a full-time job.
Luciano notes that Baruch’s excellent reputation “enhances” the ability of its graduates to get jobs, and he hopes that the new scholarship “facilitates recipients’ attendance at the school, which will mean a lot for their future.”
—Barbara Lippman