College of Business renamed to honor alum and his $10 million gift

By Tatyanna Carman

A ceremony to unveil the naming of the Norm Brodsky College of Business occurred in front of Anne Brossman Sweigart Hall on Oct.17.

Norm Brodsky ‘64 is an adjunct professor in small business management who has extensive experience in the industry. He is the founder of several companies, has a column in Inc. Magazine and is a commentator on MSNBC, CNN and Bloomfield TV, according to Rider President Gregory Dell’Omo. 

Brodsky gave a gift of $10 million to sponsor a scholarship for business students, according to the university website.  

The ceremony started with an introduction and brief history of Rider from the Interim Dean of the Norm Brodsky College of Business Eugene Kutcher. According to Kutcher, naming a college brings “validation, some recognition, branding and pride.” 

Dell’Omo then spoke about the importance of naming the college to the university. 

“What you may not know is that our college of business administration is being named for someone who, along with their business and life partner Elaine, had both already rolled up their sleeves and worked to make a difference for our students here at the university,” Dell’Omo said. 

He also shared that both Norm and Elaine Brodsky sponsored two student trips in 2018 and 2019 to Inc. 5,000, which is a national entrepreneurship conference. Dell’Omo also said that the pair created the Norm Brodsky Idea/Business Concept Competition, a national high school competition where the winner receives a full four-year scholarship to Rider and an innovative program that has collaborated with Oxford University. 

Alumni RahQuan King ‘19 and Olivia Gillingham ‘19 spoke on their experiences about what they learned and their appreciation for the Brodsky’s. 

“I smile everytime I think about how grateful I am that I’ve had the two of you come into my life,” King said. “A very wise man once said, ‘You have to recognize that all of the good things you get from the business comes from the efforts of others and you have to show your gratitude.’ You can only guess who that wise man was. It was Mr. Norm Brodsky.” 

Norm and Elaine Brodsky gave their remarks on the naming of the college as well. Elaine Brodsky emphasized the importance of hard work and their accomplishments that are a part of a “whole lifetime journey.” 

“I’ll leave you with one thing, the most important thing that you can remember from today’s ceremony is the most important thing that you have is your reputation,” Norm Brodsky said. “Don’t soil it. Always try to do the right thing and the right thing will happen. Period.” 

Robert Schimek ‘87, the chair of the Rider University Board of Trustees gave the final remarks and closed by sharing the importance of the naming and announced the reception that was held in the Cavalla Room in the Bart Luedeke Center. 

Junior marketing major Sarah Carbonaro described   the event as a “momentous time for Rider University as a whole and the college of business.”

“I think that this adds a bigger sense of community and it adds to the fact that students here, some of them don’t know what they want to do with the rest of their lives,” she said. “Some of them don’t know what the future holds. No one really knows what the future holds. But at the same time [Norm’s] story and Elaine’s story really show that if you come here, you’re going to do amazing things when you graduate.”

Norm Brodsky had a special message for the current students at Rider. 

“To the students that are here, I just want to say that everything in this world is possible. I usually [have] reasonably unattainable goals in my life and sometimes I achieve them. You’re starting out on careers that are exciting. Follow your dreams and your ambitions, because you never know where they’re going to take you.”