This Spring we’ve held several events to help Psi Upsilon Brothers connect with one another in their cities, some of these are standing and regular programs and others were grass roots where alums have offered to organize and manage the gathering. We hope to grow this practice to more areas but need volunteers to help organize – these can be informal like a happy hour or sporting event, or more formal like a dinner or speaking event. We’re happy to help connect you with others in your area to plan, and we can assist with creating registration page and email and social media campaigns to get the word out. If you would like to speak with someone about getting involved in this endeavor, please feel free to reach out to Executive Director Thomas Fox at tfox@psiu.org.
A summary of some of our Spring Events:
June 18th – Washington DC Nationals Game
We had over 25 Psi U’s from eight chapters recently get together at a Washington DC Nationals Game in the hope of creating more regular Psi U events in the Washington DC area. Thank you to David Pitcher, Phi , Bruce Blakeman, Phi , John Hoskins, Eta and Jonathan Colb, Phi Nu for helping organize the event.
June 5th – ATL Celebration of Psi Upsilon Achievement
Brothers from 9 chapters in the Atlanta area gathered to celebrate Psi Upsilon scholarship & graduate scholarship recipients, Social Impact Fellows, and new Foundation board member Jennifer Roper, Gamma Tau ’03. Special thanks to JC Sparking, Chi ’89, for sponsoring! Attendees enjoyed remarks from 2023 FishFund Senior Fellow Alex Hofelich, Gamma Tau ’98 (Georgia Tech), 2023 Gamma Chapter Corporation Senior Fellow Jeremiah Olney, Gamma Tau ’15, and Dr. Tony Kremer, Omicron ’87 Graduate Scholarship recipient Tuna Ergan, Gamma Tau ’23, and Psi U volunteers. It was a pleasure to support these brothers and learn about their achievements and honors.
May 16th – Speaker Series Event at the Chicago Club
Peter Weismantle, Eta ’72 (Lehigh) is the Director of Technical Architecture of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and helped design the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world) and the Jeddah Tower which will be the first 1km tall tower when it is completed! Our Speaker Series program was created by the Psi Upsilon Foundation to create platforms for alums to share their stories. Thanks to generous alums in the Chicago area we were hosted at the Chicago Club and had a wonderful evening.
April 18th – Perfect Pint Happy Hour in New York City
Psi Upsilon has been hosting happy hours at the Perfect Pint in New York City for a number of years now, and it has become a regular Spring event for our alums in the NYC metro region – many of whom now serve as hosts and help with marketing the event.
Sterling Goodale Hadley – Theta 1836 (Union College) by Christopher Lawrence Tang ESQ, Gamma Tau ‘01 (Georgia Tech)
A letter arrived on the desk of Psi Upsilon headquarters in late 1957 appealing on behalf of a gravestone. Brother Jeff C. Becker, Sr., Psi 1903 (Hamilton) described the sad state of affairs at the local history cemetery where one of the original founders Sterling Goodale Hadley, Theta 1836, (Union College) laid to rest in a poorly marked grave.¹
Sterling Goodale Hadley arrived in this world on August 26th, 1812 in the town of Goshen, Connecticut. Born to Stephen Hadley and Laura Hadley nee Goodale, the young man spent much of his youth moving from place to place.² He attended Egremont Academy, the equivalent of a high school, then embarked upon higher education at storied Union college.
Upon arriving at Union, young Sterling took up association with uncle (oft called cousin) Samuel Goodale, Theta 1836. Samuel soon introduced him to his coterie including Merwin Henry Stewart, Theta 1837, and George Washington Tuttle, Theta 1836. Sterling joined the Delphian society, as did most students of Union college, but found the goals of the Delphians at odds with their stated goals. Though the Delphian society claimed to be a literary society of friendship, Hadley recalled in later years that the Delphians in practice constituted a “political” establishment in which “we younger members were mere pawns.” ³
Soon, discussion began among the young men of founding their own society whose purpose would conform to the ideals of friendship and literary enlightenment.
Hadley contributed in ways large and small, from coining the rejoinder “Good night thine always” to serving as the first President of our society. Such esteem by his fellow founders earned the moniker of being the “Father” of the fraternity and one can scarcely imagine what shape our society would have without his commitment and energy.
Upon graduation from Union as Phi Beta Kappa, Hadley taught for a year, but soon he would read with the Representative Samuel Birdsall.¹ Possibly as part of his service to Birdsall, Hadley delivered a speech to the village of Waterloo, New York at their Independence Day Parade in 1937.4 Hadley settled into that humble village of Seneca Valley as his home for the rest of his life.
“We have had no occasion to regret our, start or growth, or the character of the men who have belonged to the society at Union and elsewhere.”
-Sterling Goodale Hadley, The Epitome of Psi Upsilon (1884)
The New York Bar admitted Sterling Goodale Hadley in 1939 and soon he opened a law practice. In that same year, on October 2, he wed Ann Wells and their love bore the fruit of a long and happy marriage as well as many children. Over the next forty years, Hadley served and developed Waterloo in numerous capacities including multiple stints within various positions of government and committee for every public service whether it be railroads, gas lighting, or school boards. As a man of great business and industry, Hadley worked as a lawyer with various partners along the way and opened an insurance agency. He would serve as a judge also.
Hadley’s service and accolades extended beyond the environs of Waterloo. In 1861, he helped assemble the Wright Guard to serve in the Civil War. Near the end of his career he served as state assessor and in so doing visited every county in the state.
Along the hurrying years, Hadley’s bond with the brotherhood only grew stronger with age. Hadley frequently attended Psi Upsilon conventions later in life and served as honorary President twice. He remained close with his fellow founders, especially his kinsman Samuel Goodale who attended Hadley’s 50th wedding anniversary festivities in Waterloo.
Sadly, a lifetime of remunerative industry did not save Hadley from cruelties of misfortune and references later in life note him having lost a fortune and returning to work. In those later years it is also noted that he had a particularly strong relationship with the brotherhood.
Sterling Goodale Hadley left this Earth in 1902 and lays interred a few plots away from his beloved wife Ann. A representative from the Psi Upsilon executive council attended the ceremony and flowers were sent.
Left: the new marker established by Psi Upsilon, and the clasped hands wreath laid at the graveside during the dedication. Right: John F. Bush Jr, Upsilon 1922 (Rochester) reading the dedication address.
Fifty-Nine years later, in the fall of 1960, a gathering of brothers convened at Hadley’s grave. Responding to Becker’s letter, the executive council approved of funds to refurbish and restore the grave marker for the beloved father of the fraternity. Verses of Dear Old Shrine echoed through the tombstones that sunny afternoon showing once again that no time can part the brotherhood.
1836 | Matriculates to Union college, co-founds Psi U, first President
1836 | Graduated from Union Phi Beta Kappa, teaches at Avon Springs academy
1837 | Reads/interns with a Representative Samuel Birdsall
1838 | Delivers speech at the Waterloo 4th of July parade
1839 | Sdmitted to the New York Bar and forms a law office with Samuel Birdsall
1839, Oct 2 | Marries Ann Wells
1843 | Declines invitation to Psi U Decennial due to court conflict
1840 | Founds an insurance agency in Waterloo
1845 | Co-founds Delphian Lodge house chapter in Waterloo
1853 | Elected to NY state legislature for the 1854 session
1855 | Mother Laura Goodale Hadley (sister of Samuel Goodale) dies at Egremont, MA – appointed to investigate gas and gas lights for Waterloo. Construction began the following year
1856 | Elected Judge, Surrogate, and Register in Bankruptcy, served four years
1860 | Headed campaign to build an Episcopal church with a subscription list “6 feet long”. Become one of the first Wardens of St. Paul’s Episcopal church.
1861 | Helped recruit troops for the Civil War for Capt. John F. AIkens “The Wright Guards” – Formed law office with Weaver to be Hadley & Weaver
1863 | Survey of the water rights of Seneca county
1865 | Appointed to the founding board of the Willard Asylum and Hospital, serves for over 30 years. Hadley Hall named after him, appointed to help revise the Waterloo, NY village charter
1867 | Delegate to the NY Constitutional convention
1871 | Founding member of the Board of the new Waterloo Union School (primary school)
1873 | State assessor of NY, serves till 1880
1875 | Buys the first typewriter in Waterloo – Board member of the Waterloo Historical Society
1878 | Recounts to the Diamond his account of the founding of Psi U, serves as honorary president of the Psi U convention -elected president of Waterloo Historical Society
1883 | Serves on the Board of Hobart College till 1893 -attends the Psi U Semicentennial Convention
1884 | serves as honorary president of the Psi U convention
1889, Oct 2 | 50th wedding anniversary celebration attended by Samuel Goodale, Theta 188X
1892 | Hadley Hall built at Willard Asylum
1895 | Retires
1898 | Attends Psi Upsilon Convention with the two other surviving founders. This will be the last time all three will be in the same room together.
1899 | Convention sends a telegram of greeting To Martindale, Tuttle, and Hadley as the 3 surviving members
To further spotlight the Psi Upsilon Scholarship and Graduate scholarship recipients and honor the brothers with scholarships created in their names, we have created a new PsiU Scholarship Recipients and History microsite at PsiU.org with videos and articles! Check it out here!https://www.psiu.org/recognition/2024-25-scholarship-recipients/
The Distinguished Alumni Service Award was created at the 155th Convention in 1998 to recognize Alums who go above and beyond and make great contributions to their chapters and the mission and values of Psi Upsilon Fraternity. Since that time 32 alums have received this recognition of achievement.
Recently we have delivered this to two very deserving alums for their lifetime of service to Psi Upsilon and their respective chapters.
Robert Corell, Epsilon Iota ’82
Robert Corell, Epsilon Iota ’82 (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) was recognized at the Epsilon Iota Founder’s Day dinner on April 7. Bob was a founder of the Epsilon Iota Chapter, undergraduate President, has served as a President of the Alumni Association multiple times, and has served on the Executive Council of Psi Upsilon. From his recommendation: “Robert has been a true rock for the fraternity. Collegiate Undergraduate and Alumni associations can famously have short institutional memories as membership and active engagement turn over; Robert’s continuous presence at both business and social events has created persistent stability and a sense of continuous connection between many generations of Epsilon Iota brothers.”
James Cornacchia, Pi ’86
James Cornacchia, Pi ’86 (Syracuse) was recognized at the New York City Perfect Pint event on April 18th. Jim has served on the Pi Trust for over 25 years and has served as an advisor and fundraiser for the chapter – helping organize initiations, senior dinners, homecoming and other events for the Pi. From his recommendation: “Jim Cornacchia should have been given this award every year. He has gone above and beyond for the Pi chapter consistently semester after semester… He has a very unique passion and real enthusiasm for all things Pi and keeps old memories alive through a sheer force of will (for example) Jim found out about the passing of a brother who was a WWII flying ace. He immediately felt the right thing to do was find history and a photo of him and create a lasting tribute for him in the main room of the Pi…”
You can see all past recipients of this award on our recognition page and if you know of an alum who is missing from this list, and has done a lot for your chapter, please take a moment to recommend them to our Awards Committee as we know there are many alums who are doing great things for our chapters and haven’t been recognized yet!
Edward Marinaro, Chi ‘72 (Cornell) – A Life in the Spotlight
Ed. Note: After this article was published, Ed graciously agreed to sit for a Fireside chat with Psi U. You can watch the full interview here; He talked about Psi U quite a bit! (If you just want to see those highlights, you can see them here.)
By Jerilyn Ericson, Gamma Tau ‘23 (Georgia Tech)
On the first day of his first career, there was a car. Brother Edward “Ed” Marinaro, Chi ‘72 (Cornell), had bought it with the $25,000 signing bonus he got from the Minnesota Vikings, and his teammates did not hold back from poking fun at him for pulling into the first day of practice in a beautiful purple Porsche.¹
One day, he noticed the car was missing and called the police. The officers that arrived quickly found the car, in Ed’s own words, “…under the goal post on the practice field. [Teammates] stole my car and put it under the goal post.”1 As it turned out, he had forgotten his keys in the ignition–the perfect lure for a bunch of Vikings looking for a laugh.
Before his run in the NFL, the New York City native got into Cornell University, where he joined the Chi chapter of Psi Upsilon and launched an illustrious career in college football. He started gaining attention early on, with a sophomore-year season that saw him gain the second-most yards in the country, at 1,409 yards, and run the highest per-game average in the country, at 156.6 yards.²
When asked in 1970 whether Cornell would put him on the field as much as in his previous season, offensive coach Carmen Picone quipped, “He’ll be carrying the ball plenty. You don’t use a cap pistol when you’ve got a cannon.”5
And a cannon he would prove to be, shooting high enough to claim the Maxwell Award and the second place spot for the Heisman Trophy for his 1971 season.³ For such a run–all 4,715 rushing yards of it–he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1991.4 All this coming from an Ivy League athlete long after those universities put much less emphasis on football–a seriously impressive feat.
Soon after graduating, he was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings. Despite the car prank, he got along well with his team. Some may say that Ed’s career was disappointing after college, but the man himself doesn’t look back on those days in such a light. In his own words, “I loved being in Minnesota. I played with some great teammates and some great coaches….”¹
And any career that includes two stints in the Super Bowl and places in three NFL teams can hardly be called disappointing.
On the first day of his second career, there was another car. As it turned out, his purple corvette had been stolen for real sometime in 1973. It was found two years later in Colorado, but by then, he had already bought a gold Porsche with the insurance settlement money, and that was the car he drove to Hollywood in 1978 when he took the leap into acting.¹
ED HIMSELF WRITES:
“ After my purple Porsche was stolen I got a gold one which I had for 13 years and it was stolen from my driveway in LA. That’s when I bought a Corvette in 1985. Kept it for 12 years. Loved that car.
Ed’s first big break in Hollywood was a spot on Laverne and Shirley. It was slow going at first, but he eventually landed another big spot as Officer Joe Coffey on the Emmy-award-winning show Hill Street Blues. Anyone who watched it at the time is sure to recognize him from the over 100 episodes he appeared in.6 His character was actually supposed to die in his fourth episode, but thankfully Joe Coffey fit well enough with the other characters that the writers evidently decided to keep him.7
In 1987, he participated in a series of ads for Miller Brewing Company, which was noticed at the time for a reason you, too, have probably noticed. From the 1987 issue of the Diamond, “Surely Brother Marinaro feels a bit of guilt in plugging the competitor of Coors, which is headed up by Jeffrey H. Coors, Chi ‘67, and Peter H. Coors, Chi ‘69.”8 You may have also noticed the further layer of humor here, which is that Ed and both of the Coors brothers hail from the same chapter, and though I cannot confirm it, I’m reasonably sure they would have been undergraduate brothers at the same time.
Brother Ed would go on to feature in many other movies and TV shows, including Sisters, Dynasty, Amy Fisher: My Story, and Blue Mountain State.6 The last, a raunchy comedy show, saw him return to football in his role as Coach Marty Daniels. If that sounds much different from his previous shows, the man himself would agree with you. “It got me a whole new audience,” he said in a 2022 interview. “It’s crazy. I mean, I became so popular with this demographic of 18-to-32-year-old men.”¹
And in a strange turn of events, at least from the eyes of those fans, he is more well known as the football coach in Blue Mountain State than as a college football star, though it doesn’t much bother him.¹
BROTHER ED ON HIS ROLE IN BLUE MOUNTAIN STATE:
“It’s crazy. I mean, I became so popular with this demographic of 18-to-32-year-old men.”
In total, he is credited for 66 acting appearances.6 This, along with his college football career, three NFL teams, and two Super Bowl appearances make for as much an impressive life and it is a varied one. This isn’t even mentioning his charity work, which includes hosting the Boca Grande Classic fishing tournament, which raised money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.9
Despite being in his seventies and no longer needing the money, Ed still does acting work because, in his own words, “… it’s just nice to stay sharp,…. It’s sort of fun. It gets your blood going.”¹ So do not be surprised if you go to see a new movie one day or turn on a new streaming show and find Brother Ed somewhere on the screen, catching the attention of yet another demographic.
Psi U brothers in the innovation and venture capital and investment spaces gathered in San Francisco in April from all around the country to learn about new projects helmed by Psi Upsilon brothers. The venue was 3Embarcadero Center San Francisco, CA
This year saw major format changes for the Venture Summit, including venue and focus of discussion – instead of short, pitch focused presentations, the presenters were invited to do a deeper dive into their area of expertise while including the type of help they needed from the Psi Upsilon network. We expanded the programming to include two informational afternoon sessions from subject matter experts: The Power & Magic of Humor: A Practicum presented by comedian Karen Buchanan, and AI For Everyday Use by Dr. Tamara Powell, PhD & Dr. Jeanne Beatrix Law.
We also had presentations from Risks, Opportunities, and valuations in the Craft Beverage Distillation sector with a focus on Madrona Distillery by Tom Allan, Theta Theta ‘89 and on The Future of NFC Technology by Professor Monto Kumagai
The event had more hosts than ever before. Thank you to:
Joseph Cillo, PhD, Delta ’61
Patrick Gilrane, Psi ’83
Oliver Smith, Beta Alpha ’93
James Volpentest, Theta Theta ’90
Craig Chaing, Epsilon ‘95
At the next programming and grants committee meeting will recommend creating a steering committee for this event. If you are local to San Francisco and interested in helping plan next year’s Venture Summit, please contact jonathan@psiu.or
