Inducted in 2013
Financial Services Executive

Induction Video

Bronx-born Michael Conway came to Fordham Prep from St. Angela Merici School in the Morrisania Section of the borough, growing up not far from Yankee Stadium. He and his sister Barbara were the children of James Conway, the proprietor of a local tavern, and Gladys Mirthes Conway, a homemaker and part-time secretary. Mike's father, James, was the son of a Staten Island ferry captain and his mother, Gladys, had immigrated from Germany with her family in 1916.

The Conways lived close to Cardinal Hayes and All Hallows High Schools — Mike would likely have gone to one or the other — but a certain Mr. Fox had seen him run as an eighth-grader. That Mr. Fox was none other than Joseph Fox, Class of 1929, legendary Prep coach, New York City track pioneer and fellow Hall of Honor inductee. Coach Fox was so impressed with Mike’s talents that he convinced Conway to make the bus ride up Webster Avenue and attend Fordham Prep instead. A partial scholarship from the Spiked Shoe Club would bring the Prep's tuition within the family's reach.

As Conway has recalled, during his first few days at the Prep during the first Mass of freshman year, he started sneezing badly. A classmate, John Acampora, handed him a handkerchief and a friendship was born — a rather fateful meeting as Mike would find out in the years to come.

There and then, on that September morning in 1955, Conway began to understand that Fordham Prep was an all-encompassing experience, not only a time for study and spiritual growth, but a time to make lifelong friendships and social ties that would endure for decades. In Conway’s words: “Fordham Prep was far more than an education. It was a way of life. It was where we shared our lives as friends. It was what we were every day.“

Among Mike's Rose Hill recollections are strong memories of various faculty members. “I had Mr. DaParma for English, and I remember him for challenging us to look at literature from our own experience.” 

Of yet another fellow Hall of Honor inductee, Fr. Shea, Mike would note: “Father Shea knew every floorboard, and every footstep, and the location of every student in the building. He provided gracious yet deliberate discipline. It was mental, not physical — and well-intentioned. He’d say to us, ‘Do you know why you’re here? Let me know if you learned your lesson,’”  In Conway’s estimation, Father’s unique style helped students grow as young men, learning to do "the difficult right thing, not the easy wrong thing" — lessons that would remain with him always.

While Conway had come to the Prep because of his fleet-footedness, he would be equally noted for his success on the gridiron. Classmate and fellow Hall of Honor member Bruce Bott would write of Mike’s contribution to the legendary, undefeated 1956 Rams: "Mike Conway was the starting left halfback on Thanksgiving Day 1956. He was awarded the Madow Trophy for his MVP performance." The Madow Trophy — a part of Turkey Bowl lore — was originally awarded to the outstanding player in the Fordham University-NYU game. But when the University suspended football in 1954, it was decided that the trophy’s legacy would continue as the MVP award to be given during the big Prep-Xavier game. As has been said of Conway again and again down through the decades, winning the Madow was unheard of for a sophomore.

Pasquale Bottiglieri, also a member of the Class of 1959, would write of Conway: “I knew him as a fellow member of the 1959 Fordham Rams Football Team, as offensive and defensive component of one of the best high school teams in the area at that time. I, as a third-stringer on that team, learned a great deal about life as well as the game of football from role models like Mike Conway. On every practice field and in every game, Mike came with 100% and gave all of that 100%, no ifs, ands or buts. He ran hard every time he carried the ball, or blocked for one of his teammates. On defense, he made everybody pay the price for any yards they gained in practice and on the field of play. Most importantly, Mike carried his wins and his losses with the same dignity and respect and transmitted that principle and practice to the team as a whole.”

In addition to Conway’s accomplishments as a harrier and halfback, he was also a member of the Athletic Council, the Maroon Key, and the Knights of the Blessed Sacrament. He served as class president during his freshman, sophomore, and junior years and was president of the Senior Council in his fourth year. Is no wonder that the ‘59ers dubbed him “Most Popular” and well as “Most Athletic.”

Graduating from the Prep, Mike entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. As a captain in the US Army, he served in Vietnam from 1964 to 1969 and was twice awarded the Purple Heart. Returning to the States, he would teach at the US Army Artillery Academy, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

After his time at Fort Sill, Conway returned to his studies, earning an MBA from Columbia University in 1971. He would go on to have a long career in finance, which has included stints at Goldman Sachs, as a limited partner at Lehman Brothers, as senior executive vice president at Wells Fargo, and as CEO and senior vice president at Comerica Securities, Inc. In addition he has taught and continues to teach professional military ethics at West Point. Conway notes that so many of the lessons imparted by Fr. Shea and other members of the Prep faculty are the basis of principles he continues to share with students there.

Michael Conway has shared his life with Margaret, a graduate of Elizabeth Seton Junior College who has worked in advertising. They were married in 1964. Her maiden name: Acampora — extraordinary where a borrowed handkerchief can lead. Besides Margaret's brother, John, and another of her brothers, Matthew, Class of 1975, her father also had attended the Prep, graduating in 1929.

Mike and Marge Conway are the parents of three: Angela, Michael, and Matthew. Like his father, young Michael also played football and appeared in the Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl — but he played with Xavier High School and against his father's, uncles’ and grandfather’s alma mater. 

The Conways are proud grandparents several times over. They now live in Bayhead, New Jersey and are parishioners at Sacred Heart Church.

Reflecting on his years at St. Angela Merici, the Prep, and West Point, Mike says that the Ursuline sisters, the Jesuits and the chaplaincy at West Point all reinforced the need to seek spiritual help and to lean on faith, especially during times of special challenges. He notes in particular how attending mass in a combat zone can bring home clearly the desire to be connected to God. “We can’t achieve much without seeking help from God,” he says.

Conway has always been generous to the Prep and its students, making time to come back to Rose Hill and to speak to the boys about his experiences on many, many occasions. For his part, Mike Conway remains grateful to Fordham. In his own words: “They took a kid from the South Bronx and put him on a path that lead to something substantial. The Prep gave me opportunities I did not have before.”