Dr. Peter Sammartino graduated from New York’s Stuyvesant High School in 1921 and eventually became a professor at the Teachers College of Columbia University. In 1932, he was a founding faculty member of a progressive, experimental approach to global education there. Known as the New College, the curriculum emphasized foreign study, diversity of experience, pragmatism, and the revitalization of the post-Depression educational system.

In 1942, Dr. Sammartino and his wife, Sylvia, founded Fairleigh Dickinson University as an institution “of and for the world.” Named for its early benefactor, Fairleigh S. Dickinson, the school has grown from an original enrollment of 153 to an international institution that today serves 12,000 students and is New Jersey’s largest private university.

Dr. Sammartino also founded the International Association of University Presidents and wrote 30 books. He retired in 1967 as chancellor and president emeritus and served as honorary chancellor until his death in 1992. The Peter Sammartino School of Education and the Peter Sammartino Scholarship Fund continue to honor Fairleigh Dickinson University’s founder today.