H. John and Diane M. Riley Dual Engineering\/MBA Program Endowed Fund<\/a> designed to give students a distinctive edge, allowing them to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree in engineering along with an MBA in just five years. When the Rileys recognized the need for a new home for the University\u2019s School of Management, they endowed a classroom in the state-of-the-art building, helping prepare future business leaders. They supported many other initiatives at the University, including Syracuse University Athletics and the Winnick Hillel Center for Jewish Life.<\/p>\n\u201cJohn and I had been discussing what form our next gift should take, but he died before we could make a decision,\u201d says Diane. She says it was Chancellor Syverud who proposed the idea for Riley Hall. \u201cI felt incredibly honored and was so touched by his enthusiasm.\u201d She took the idea to the family who ultimately decided that it was \u201ca no brainer\u201d and a fitting way to honor their father.<\/p>\n
Family Stories <\/p>\n
Son Patrick \u201cPat\u201d E. Riley \u201990, who graduated from the Newhouse School, says their father\u2019s name will no doubt live on in the stories future students will tell about life in Riley Hall. That\u2019s especially meaningful for the Riley family, which made many of its own memories at that same site when it was the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel & Conference Center. \u201cI think I had my first drink there when I was a senior and my sister came to visit and stayed at the hotel,\u201d Pat says. \u201cIt was always the place where our family socialized.\u201d The Sheraton was closed in 2024 for extensive renovations and transformation into a modern residence hall.<\/p>\n
Diane also remembers gathering at the Sheraton bar and restaurant with the spouses of other board members while John was attending trustee meetings. And it was the place to stay when visiting their grandchildren who attended Syracuse University (Megan graduated in 2024; Tristan will graduate this year; and John will attend in the fall.).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe location of Riley Hall at the center of campus is such a fitting tribute to John,\u201d says Allen Groves, senior vice president and chief student experience officer. \u201cAs a trustee, John was always focused on how best to meet the evolving needs of students. He was both a visionary and a passionate champion for students.\u201d<\/p>\n
At his memorial service, Riley\u2019s daughter Beth talked about the values her father taught to his family, values that clearly shaped his commitments to Syracuse University. \u201cHe was a rock of stability, good judgment, fun and common sense,\u201d Beth said at the service. \u201cMy dad had a no-nonsense way about him that cherished truth over fanfare, responsibility over impulsiveness, long-term value over short-term gain.\u201d Son Tom said, \u201cHe was a great executive, leader, servant. Along the way, he always had mom by his side.\u201d Son Pat recalls his father reassuring his family that no matter what challenges they faced, \u201cYou\u2019ll always make it through. You\u2019ll all be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently, Diane and all the children and grandchildren (Beth, Marcus, Tom, Lizabeth, Pat, Beatrice, Emma, Charlotte, Matthew, Megan, Tristan, John and Connor) completed a trip to Egypt that John had been planning for them before his passing. \u201cHe was so detailed in his planning, and we carried out many of them on the trip,\u201d says Pat. \u201cAs in life, here was Dad behind the scenes, telling us what to do\u2026and how to do it right!\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane says that the life of Riley was defined by \u201cdoing things right the first time and doing the right things.\u201d Riley Hall is one of those right things done right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Riley was just 16 years old when he set foot on the Syracuse University campus. It was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19625,39036,85092,9,11,10,49,51,50,10867,85094],"class_list":["post-218088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alumni","tag-board-of-trustees","tag-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-philanthropy","tag-whitman-school-of-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}