Louis J. Cissone Jr. ’56

Lou Cissone '56 is a former accounting major who also treasures the liberal arts education he received at Saint Joseph's College. In fact, he considers it the impetus for the finance career he enjoyed, so much so that when Saint Joseph's launched a planned giving initiative to complement annual fund and major gifts drives, Cissone was among the very first to come on board. Saint Joseph's emphasis on ethics, philosophy and theology instilled a business sense deeply rooted in doing well by doing good.

“As a graduate of Saint Joseph's, I was motivated by a sense that I wanted to do everything right,” he says. “When you're young you are determined to avoid joining the ranks of those who take shortcuts to a successful life. It's easy when your focus is on self-respect and not the size of your wallet.”

Far from taking shortcuts, Cissone went on to a long, fulfilling career as a CPA and in corporate finance that saw him spend many years with Sun Oil Company and then buy out one of the company's subsidiaries along with several other co-owners. Retired for a dozen years, he recently completed a term on Saint Joseph's Board of Trustees.

Cissone's Saint Joseph's education was so influential that he wishes to ensure that future students have the same opportunity to experience it. Through the Louis J. Cissone Scholarship Fund he has already become a generous benefactor of students. Additionally, Cissone was one of the University's first alumni to provide a major bequest in his will and become a founding member of the Ignatian Circle, which recognizes those who have provided for the University through life income gifts, bequests, beneficiary designations, or other estate gifts. Charitable gift planning is Cissone's way of offering tomorrow's leaders the same educational experience that so influenced him a half-century ago.

“My Jesuit education is among the few most valuable experiences of my life. I give because I want to be among the many alumni who make it possible for others to share this great experience. ”