Sometimes the end of an era really is the end of an era.
For the hundreds of people who knew and loved him—as well as all who share in a thriving Saint Anselm College because of his remarkable vision, energy, loyalty, and love—the passing of Walter Gallo ’58, H.D. ’08 on February 27, 2024, truly marked the end of an era. An era when many of the current functions of the college originated and resided in one man. That is why there is no exaggeration in the observation of his lifelong friend Ed Cantlin ’62: “For many people, Walter Gallo was Saint Anselm College.”
Cantlin is quick to add that Gallo and his wife Julie “were a team.” Besides taking care of things on the home front while Gallo spent staggering hours working and traveling on the college’s behalf, Gallo and his wife frequently opened their home to generations of students, alumni, monks, and friends. It’s fitting that the space dedicated to them on campus is the Gallo Café since they generously embodied Benedictine hospitality, serving legendary meatballs whose not-so-secret ingredient was love.
Jim Flanagan, senior vice president and chief advancement officer, notes that “Walter was first and foremost a family man, and his second family was Saint Anselm.” Calling Gallo “one of the most influential lay people in the college’s 135-year history,” Flanagan counts himself among the hundreds of Anselmians who regarded Gallo as a key mentor and friend. “We like to say ‘Anselmian then, Anselmian now, Anselmian always,’” he says. “Nobody embodied that more than Walter. From the time he set foot on this campus in 1954 until his death, he really bled blue and white.”
In his homily at Gallo’s funeral Mass, Abbot Mark Cooper O.S.B. ’71 observed: “To be with Walter and to learn of the great loves of his life, and take notice of his untiring efforts to advance the good of individuals and institutions, was to fully understand why countless people considered him to be their very dear friend. ... He gave forth his full time and attention to others so easily ... and his integrity and positive outlook were contagious. He wished for everyone to be well and to succeed, so often placing the needs of others far ahead of any needs of his own. Walter was a Golden Anselmian in more ways than one.”
While it is impossible to encapsulate all that Gallo has meant and continues to mean to Saint Anselm, one way to understand his impact is to consider the various areas of the college that he created or helped foster into existence. Among those, alumni relations and development are most prominent.
Today, Saint Anselm has a vibrant Office of Alumni Relations, serving between 23,000 and 24,000 alumni. Sixty years ago, it had Walter Gallo. “Starting in 1964,” says Flanagan, “Walter developed alumni chapters throughout the country, one relationship at a time. Paul Dowd ’58 met Gallo the first day the two men set foot on campus for Orientation in 1954. Later, Dowd came to work at the college, becoming the director of Public Relations where, among other things, he tried to keep up with Gallo’s many ideas. Recalling Gallo’s familiar phrases—such as “Yeah, we could do this! That would be great!”—Dowd observes that “in those days, if Walter was getting paid hourly, he probably got paid 15 cents an hour.” In addition to the round-the- clock hours Gallo logged, Dowd says there was a certain magic: “Walter’s outreach was never alumni director to alum. He was friend to friend. He built the Saint Anselm Alumni Association one friendship at a time, and for the longest time he knew every alumnus by name and phone number.”
College archivist Keith Chevalier notes, “Walter used to say he knew Saint Anselm alums from the 19th, the 20th, and 21st century. As an archivist, I can’t think of someone I will miss more because of the memories in his head. He was like an uncle telling me all about my grandparents.” And Gallo was intent upon caring for those grandparents, founding the Order of Golden Anselmians for those celebrating the 50th anniversary of their graduation. “Once you graduate, you come back every five years for a reunion. We do kind of a big deal for your 25th reunion,” says Flanagan, “and then we do a big deal again at your 50th reunion. That was all Walter’s idea.”
To understand Gallo’s impact on fundraising, one would need to return to the time when that word at the college had dubious connotations. “Back then,” Dowd recalls, “the monastery believed that money would come from Divine Providence.” It was first Bob Collins and then Gallo who went a long way, he recalls, to persuading the monks that God could use some help. “It took a long time. They were not oriented to asking for help.”
Bob Sullivan ’75 worked with Gallo in Development from 1977 to 1997, and recalls Gallo’s profound and broad impact on Saint Anselm. “His strength,” Sullivan says, “was in building programs intended to support the campus, faculty, students, facilities, and scholarships throughout the campus. To do so, he built a comprehensive Advancement program comprised of Alumni Relations, the Annual Fund, Development, Major Gifts, and Planned Giving.”
As with his other efforts to support his alma mater, Gallo understood that fundraising was first and foremost about relationships. As he built alumni chapters and enlisted the help and leadership of volunteers among alumni, Cantlin recalls, “he never led by asking for money.” Much of the financial support that has come to Saint Anselm over the past six decades, and continues to come in the form of estate gifts, is traceable to a conversation with Walter Gallo. “Walter once told me that in his day software meant a handshake,” Chevalier says, adding, “This guy could talk to a tree and find out how many rings that tree had.”
Gallo was also an unofficial admission and retention officer for the college. It’s impossible to say how many young people he successfully persuaded to attend Saint Anselm, or how many families, because of the trust they placed in Gallo, were determined to send their kids here. Many of those students credit Gallo for their ultimate success on a sometimes-bumpy road to graduation. Today, when a student runs into academic, social, or disciplinary issues, a support team surrounds them, and action plans are made. Back then, the response commonly consisted of four familiar words: “Go see Mr. Gallo.” Prominent and successful alumni of Saint Anselm today recall their college careers being salvaged by that directive, and the subsequent guidance that followed from Gallo’s advice that began with, “OK, now here’s what you got to do.”
in 2018 during the ribbon cutting of the Roger and Francine Jean Student Center complex. |
Photo by Jeff Dachowski
Many alums also attribute their success beyond Saint Anselm to Gallo using his hundreds of personal relationships with alums to foster a widespread professional network. Long before there was a Career Development Center, there were phone calls, conversations, and introductions facilitated by Gallo. A colonel in the U.S. Marine Reserves, he recruited and commissioned many graduates into the Marines, including Medal of Honor recipient Harvey C. “Barney” Barnum ’62, H.D. ’04, U.S.M.C. (Ret.). It would be hard to count how many other alums across generations who say, “Walter helped me get my first job.”
He never taught a class at Saint Anselm, but Gallo’s reputation as a teacher and mentor among those who worked for him is legendary, something even at the end of their careers they speak of with gratitude. “I was a very junior development officer who was eager to find a mentor and teacher,” recalls Sullivan. “Among Walter’s great gifts, which he generously shared, was that of a mentor. He wanted his staff, alumni he worked with, and the volunteers he recruited to succeed in their efforts on behalf of the college. So, in addition to being a great mentor, he was a patient teacher.”
Bob Weiler ’73, former chair of the board of trustees and one of the country’s leaders in the technology industry for more than 40 years, is among those who was told, “Go see Mr. Gallo.” Weiler says, “Walter was a great man who had an exceptional ability to care for everyone around him. His selflessness and compassion left a lasting impact on the lives of many alumni. Through his mentorship and guidance, he inspired countless individuals to reach their full potential and pursue their dreams. He may have been the most influential person in my life, for which I am extremely and eternally grateful.”
Jeannette Davila ’83, H.D. ’99, a past and current board member who has enjoyed enormous success as a leader in both for-profit and non-profit worlds, met Gallo when she arrived from Puerto Rico as a 17-year-old freshman. “I can’t remember how it happened, but I was invited to the Gallo home for dinner, and I never stopped showing up for the next 40 years! He and Julie always made sure I felt like family. During moments when we would sit together and look at everyone around us, he would tell me that the friendships I would make at the college I would treasure always. When my parents came to visit from Puerto Rico, we were invited to the Gallos for dinner, and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between our families. I am forever grateful for Walter’s mentoring, and unconditional support and love. I felt I was loved as if I were his daughter.”
I was invited to the Gallo home for dinner, and I never stopped showing up for the next 40 years! He and Julie always made sure I felt like family.
Davila’s feelings of familial closeness with Gallo are not unique. His presence when people were in need reflected the Marine Corps motto: Always faithful! He was extremely close to the monastery, sharing close relationships with current monks as well as those who had passed. Whether with them or occasionally in place of them, he represented Saint Anselm on countless pastoral occasions. “The number of funerals that man attended!” says Dowd. Gallo was frequently next to the beds of alumni and friends who were ill or hospitalized. Describing Gallo’s “values of kindness, empathy, and giving,” Weiler notes, “He quietly impacted so many lives.”
Today Gallo’s youngest grandchild, Oliver Bryan ’26, is the 22nd member of the Gallo family to graduate from Saint Anselm. “From a very young age,” says Bryan, “I learned that Walter was larger than life. His passion was meeting other people, and there was no limit to his reach. People have told me, ‘I know he was your grandfather and your greatest role model, but you should know he was my greatest role model too.’” Of his decision to attend his grandfather’s beloved alma mater, Bryan says, “In my senior year at Boston Latin, he obviously wanted me to come to Saint Anselm. He said, ‘You don’t have to go here, but just remember that this place is particular because the connections you make you will have your entire life.’”
When we consider that Gallo’s Saint Anselm connections stretched back into the 19th century and that Bryan’s may well stretch into the next century, the expression “Anselmian always” resonates in a way that Gallo would appreciate. “I know that Walter is looking at us from heaven,” says Davila, “and if he were here, he would tell us that the work we are all doing for the college matters. That we must continue our work, be generous, celebrate, and trust each other to shape Saint Anselm’s future.” Sometimes the end of an era really is the end of an era. But it is also, Gallo would certainly insist in his unrestrained optimism, the beginning of another!
Gary Bouchard, Ph.D., is a professor of English, and executive director of the Gregory J. Grappone Humanities Institute.