“St. Lawrence taught me how to be part of a community and to accept responsibility for improving that community,” says Ed Kelley ’77. That might explain how he came to be honored by Syracuse Newspapers with the annual Central New York Community Achievement Award in spring 2012. 

Kelley, who is chair of the business department and public finance practice group of the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, was honored for reinvigorating Syracuse’s downtown YMCA, which was slated for closure. He led the charge to develop a full-service suburban branch, which has become enormously popular.

“St. Lawrence prepared me well in many areas that benefited not only my career, but also the quality of my life and my family’s,” Kelley says, mentioning law school, business school and his career as a public finance attorney.  But he says it was what he learned outside of the classroom that truly made a difference in his life.

“This more subtle part of the fabric of St. Lawrence led me to participate on numerous civic boards and to meet and work with fascinating people from many walks of life,” he says. “Ultimately, it opened the door for six siblings from Kenya to become part of our family.” The support he and his wife, Sue, a classmate at St. Lawrence, have given the siblings was also a factor in the award. 

The six brothers and sisters, whose parents were terminally ill, wanted to come to America for their educations.  Through numerous generous acts over several years, the Kelleys helped make that possible. Two of the six are now doctors in their home village in Kenya; one is studying for her master’s degree in nursing; and another, Grace Ochieng '12, distinguished herself as a student leader at St. Lawrence and is working in health care in Kenya.