Alumni of Distinction

Co-Founder, E2SG Partners and former executive chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Ecolab

Termeer Professor of Bioengineering in MIT's Department of Biological Engineering and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science; recipient of the MacArthur Fellow in 2003

Chancellor of UMass Medical School and a fellow of the American College of Physicians 

Former president of the Society for Neuroscience, Eben S. Draper Professor of Psychiatry, emeritus, at Harvard Medical School, and was chairman of the Consolidated Department of Psychiatry at Harvard 1991-2001

Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health from 1984 to 2022; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

First director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 

Surgeon-in-Chief and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Tufts Medical Center.   Professor of Surgery and Benjamin Andrews Chair of Surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine.  

Physician and former NASA astronaut who was the first physician to be selected for astronaut training and served as science-pilot for the Skylab 2 mission in 1973

Chair of the department of pediatrics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering; conducted the first successful bone marrow transplant involving an unrelated, compatible donor; co-developed an approach now used throughout the world to effectively treat children born without an immune system (once known as “bubble babies”)

Medical oncologist, Texas Oncology-Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center

Head orthopedic physician, St. Louis Cardinals

First Director of the National Institutes of Health, elected to National Academy of Sciences (1965), awarded the National Medal of Science by President Gerald R. Ford (1974) 

Former scientific director of the National Cancer Institute who played a prominent role in the introduction of chemotherapy for cancer 

Longest-serving president of Holy Cross (1970-94), recruited a more diverse student body, established coeducation, and guided the College into one of the country’s top liberal arts institutions

Co-founder, The Drexel Fund, a national fund providing start-up capital for new, high-quality, financially sustainable faith-based and private schools and founder of Cassin Educational Initiative to establish Catholic college-preparatory middle and high schools in economically-challenged communities throughout the country

Founder and organizer of the 2018 March for Our Lives in New York City, part of a national movement calling for new gun legislation in the wake of the Parkland school shooting

Chief strategy officer and executive vice president, City Year; president, Voices for National Service

Executive director, The Ignatian Volunteer Corps

Attorney who helped organize bans against fracking in dozens of New York communities; recipient of the 2014 North American Goldman Environmental Prize

Chief diversity and inclusion officer at Davis, Polk & Wardwell LLP

Board chair at Worcester nonprofit Abby's House, recipient of the 2025 Annette Rafferty Award, which recognizes extraordinary service to Abby’s House.

President, Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School

Founder and executive director, Center for Biological Diversity

Partner and co-chair of Litigation, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, New York

Founder and chairman, The Suzanne Wright Foundation, founded in memory of his wife Suzanne to accelerate pancreatic cancer research through awareness; co-founder of Autism Speaks with Suzanne Wright; retired vice chairman of the General Electric Company and chairman and CEO of NBC Universal (1986 to 2007)

George Kaftan was a star member of the Holy Cross basketball team from 1945-1949. As a freshman, he averaged 15.3 points per game while helping the Crusaders to an overall mark of 12-3. Then as a sophomore, Kaftan led Holy Cross to an overall mark of 27-3 and the NCAA Tournament championship. He was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after averaging 21.0 points per contest, including 18 points in the championship game victory over Oklahoma.

Kaftan led the Crusaders to a 26-4 record and a third-place finish in the NCAA Tournament in 1947-1948, and served as a team captain during his senior year. The first 1,000-point scorer in program history, he was also a two-time first team All-American selection.

Following his graduation, Kaftan played five seasons of professional basketball with the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Baltimore Bullets.

Drafted by the Celtics in the first round of the 1954 draft, Palazzi spent six seasons with the Celtics and the Syracuse Nationals. He returned to Holy Cross as a coach, first as a men’s assistant and later as the head coach of the women’s team, leading the program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 1985. His No. 22 was retired by the College in 2008.

George Blaney was the sixth Holy Cross graduate to return as head basketball coach. He served the college longer than any other mentor and coached the Crusaders in 633 contests ' more than double the games coached by any of his 11 predecessors. In Blaney's final two campaigns as a player, the Crusaders won more than 20 games and placed third in the 1961 NIT after compiling a 22-5 record. Blaney scored 1,012 points in his career and was an All-New England selection as a senior.

He played professionally with the New York Knicks before returning to New Jersey as a coach at Hudson Catholic High. Blaney then took the coaching and athletic director reins at Stonehill College for two seasons, compiling a 27-18 mark and winning a league championship.

Under Blaney, Holy Cross posted nine consecutive winning seasons starting in 1974-1975, with five of the squads winning 20 or more games. Blaney was named Eastern Coach of the Year in 1976-1977, as the Crusaders went 23-6 and played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 21 years. The Purple made return trips to the NCAAs in 1980 and 1993, and played in five NITs as well under Blaney.

In the summer of 1994, he returned to his native New Jersey to take the head coaching reins at Seton Hall. Blaney retired from coaching in 2013.

Graham was a track and field athlete at Holy Cross, but qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games as a wrestler representing the Federated States of Micronesia. He was the executive director of Ship/Hoops, a nonprofit organization on Chuuk (in Micronesia) that created educational and sports opportunities for children. Graham died in 2012, but has been memorialized as a Micronesian hero.

Miller, a two-time All-Patriot League performer at Holy Cross, won an NBA championship as a member of the 2019 Toronto Raptors. He was the first Patriot League player to achieve the mark, and the fourth Holy Cross basketball player to win an NBA title. He has since continued his professional career overseas.

Manis was the first player in Crusader history to be selected in the WNBA Draft and just the second player in Patriot League history to be drafted when she was picked 33rd overall by the Las Vegas Aces in 2020. Manis finished her Holy Cross career with 2,020 points and 1,188 rebounds, breaking the school and Patriot League records in rebounds and becoming the first basketball player in school history – men's or women's – with 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.

Socialist historian and author of “The Other America,” which is believed to have inspired Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and other social reforms of the 1960s

Chair, Stanford University Department of Medicine and the Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine

President, Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles