Turning Pride into Purpose

Kevin Tedeschi ‘71 VSB of Duxbury, Mass. has always been proud of his alma mater. But when the school was ranked as the #1 undergraduate business program in the nation by Bloomberg Businessweek in 2016, he said, “Being recognized around the country for that #1 ranking filled me with even greater pride.”

For the past five years, Tedeschi has been active in VSB’s New England Campaign Committee and later became a member of the President’s Advisory Council. Soon after the ranking, he decided to give back in another way: by donating $1 million to endow an assistant professorship and name a classroom in Bartley Hall. His gift will help continue the renovation of Bartley Hall and create a classroom that is designed to encourage collaboration and reflect the professional environments VSB students will enter post-graduation.

“By endowing an assistant professorship at VSB, Kevin’s gift will provide greatly needed resources that enable our faculty to examine important issues in business today and help bridge the gap between theory and practice. Such support not only provides for academic investigation; it also helps ensure that our students receive a relevant, cutting edge business education,” said Joyce E. A. Russell, PhD, the Helen and William O’Toole Dean of VSB.

Villanova gave Tedeschi the broad-based education that he says he very much needed and appreciated. Tedeschi is retired from a successful career in liquor retail, branching from the Tedeschi family business of supermarket and convenience store chains that was started by his grandfather, Angelo Tedeschi.

Six days after graduating from Villanova, Tedeschi started working for himself in the liquor retail business. “In those days, it was not uncommon to go right to work after graduating,” he says. “It was a natural thing for me to do, and within two years I bought a second store.”

“My family has been in the business since my grandfather opened a small specialty Italian goods store in Rockland, Mass. in the 1920s,” he says. Kevin’s father Ralph ran the business after returning from World War II; he and his brothers bought chain stores that were started by a local man, and their business grew from there. They named the first chain Tedeschi’s Supermarket the second they named Angelo’s.

The Tedeschis were successful, and within one year they doubled the businesses, started another chain, and eventually sold it, “It’s key to know when the right time to sell is,” said Tedeschi. “You can guess, but you have to have the instinct. These things are never black and white.”

Kevin was not the only Tedeschi to apply a VSB education to his career. Other family members attended VSB as well: his brother Brian Tedeschi ‘72 VSB and cousins Robert Tedeschi ‘75 VSB and Charlie Fitzgibbons ‘71 VSB.

Originally published in the Summer 2017 Issue of Villanova Business magazine.