$10M Gift Is Largest In Rider History

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ — Rider University alum Norm Brodsky and his wife, Elaine, are responsible for the largest gift in the history of the university. Their $10 million gift will endow a scholarship for business students and support future business school projects, the university announced.

Following the multi-million dollar investment, Rider University’s College of Business Administration will be known as the Norm Brodsky College of Business. It is the university’s first college to be named for an alumnus. The college was dedicated at a ceremony on Oct. 17.

“This extraordinary gift exemplifies Norm and Elaine’s deep passion for Rider and its students,” Rider University President Gregory G. Dell’Omo, Ph.D, said. “In recognizing this unprecedented level of support, we look to the future, and to what can be accomplished because of the generosity of the Brodskys. The impact of this gift will be nothing short of remarkable for our University.”

Brodsky is a businessman, serial entrepreneur, author and frequently sought commentator. Brodsky received a Bachelor of Science in Commerce with a major in accounting from Rider and a Bachelor of Laws from Brooklyn Law School. He founded eight successful businesses, including CitiStorage, the largest privately owned archive business in the country. He credits his success to his time at Rider.

“The most important factor in starting and running a business are the numbers,” Brodsky said. “You have to be able to understand the numbers and as an accounting major, I got that background early on.”

As an adjunct professor at the university, Brodsky and his wife sponsored a trip to the Inc. 5000 Conference in 2018 and 2019. For the past two years, they have supported the nationwide, high school business competition at the University to engage young entrepreneurs. The competition’s grand prize is a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to Rider.

See related:
Rider University Awards Full Scholarship In Business Competition
High School Senior From Burlington County Wins Rider Scholarship

This summer, Brodsky was instrumental in the development of Rider’s Innovation Intensive at the University of Oxford, which gave 25 Rider students and recent alumni the opportunity to learn from 14 CEOs.

“Norm has continually sought and developed ways to allow our students to get valuable exposure to the business world, giving them insight and the opportunity to ask questions about how business is practiced today,” said Dr. Eugene Kutcher, the College’s interim dean. “This knowledge is exactly the type of information to which all leaders of developing businesses wish they had access, so these opportunities give our students a leg up on competition once they graduate.”

Rider’s 154-year-old business college offers 16 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and an array of minors and certificate programs. Both the business and accounting programs are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. Dual accreditation in business administration and accounting is held by only 2 percent of programs worldwide.