Inducted in 2025
Executive, Various Industries
Speechwriter, US Department of Defense 
Instructor, West Point Academy 
Ranger, US Army

In both times of peace and in every major conflict since the Civil War, men who once called Rose Hill their second home have stood ready to protect our homeland and safeguard the freedom that is the soaring spirit of this great nation. Generation after generation—with valor, with honor, and with dignity—maroon-blooded members of the Brotherhood of the Ram have answered the call to serve the American people and to defend the undefended at home or abroad.

Among them: John D. “Jack” Bergen, Class of 1960. Though, in all fairness, his outstanding military service represents only one remarkable arc of his extraordinary multi-industry career.

Born in the Bronx in 1942, Jack was the son of John Bergen Sr., an insurance adjuster, and Alice Almand Bergen, a devoted homemaker. Hailing from University Avenue, the Bergen family belonged to St. Nicholas of Tolentine Parish, where Jack attended grammar school and served faithfully as an altar boy. Growing up in a devout family and a tight-knit Bronx neighborhood, Jack and his siblings—Katherine, Elizabeth, Christopher, and Eileen—learned early that hard work and discipline, loyalty and integrity, and compassion and faith were the foundations on which to build a
meaningful life.

Jack arrived at Fordham Prep in the fall of 1956, a determined and diligent young man in the estimation of his teachers. During his Hughes Hall years, “Berg” immersed himself in nearly every aspect of school life. The altar boy from Tolentine would continue to serve at Mass with the Prep’s Sanctuary Society, was a Knight of the Blessed Sacrament, and was involved with the Sodality— the Prep’s devotional and charitable society at the time. In addition, he ran track, played on the JV basketball and football teams, and served on the Athletic Council, all while still finding time for the Science Club, the Dance Committee, the Rampart newspaper, and the yearbook. Naturally, he was a four-year member of the Honor Guard.

Nor were Jack’s teenage endeavors confined to campus. Working at a Manhattan bank during his freshman and sophomore years, selling hot dogs at Yankee Stadium and Orchard Beach in the summers, and even picking tobacco in Connecticut, Jack worked throughout high school to help offset the cost of his Prep tuition—a stretch for a large middle-class family in those days. Those long, hot days by the Long Island Sound or out on the fields in the Nutmeg State proved enduring lessons in responsibility and perseverance—lessons that would serve him well in every
command post and corporate boardroom to come.

Upon graduating in 1960, Bergen earned an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he received his degree in engineering in 1964. That same year, Jack married Linda Rosewall, a healthcare manager who would eventually go on to hold a professorship in healthcare administration at Temple University.

Commissioned into the U.S. Army, Bergen completed Airborne and Ranger training before serving with the 24th Infantry Division in Germany, followed by a tour in Vietnam as a combat advisor to a Vietnamese battalion—earning both the Bronze Star Medal and commendation from the Vietnamese government for his valor and leadership.

Returning home, he continued his military education at the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he completed a master’s degree in military science in 1975. Along the way, he pursued advanced studies in the humanities, earning a master’s degree in English literature from Indiana University. He later served as a professor of English and philosophy at West Point, where he introduced the Academy’s first course in Black Studies—a pioneering act of vision and conscience during a transformative period in American life.

Over a distinguished twenty-year military career, Jack rose through the ranks from platoon and company commander to battalion commander in Korea, strategic planner at the Pentagon, and ultimately chief speechwriter to the U.S. Secretary of Defense. His work blended intellectual precision with moral clarity—the kind of leadership that reflects both soldierly discipline and the Ignatian insistence on reason in the service of justice.

After retiring from active duty, Jack brought his strategic insight and eloquence to the world of business, becoming one of the nation’s most respected communications and management executives. He served as vice president at General Electric, president of Hill & Knowlton, CEO of the GCI Group, and later senior vice president for CBS, Siemens, and Alcoa Corporation, before founding The Bergen Partnership, an international public relations firm, in 2018. Across each role, he has been known for integrity, intellect, and the ability to lead with both vision and humility.

In 2005, Jack was named Professional of the Year by the Business Marketing Association, recognizing not only his professional accomplishments but also the same qualities his peers had seen in him since his Prep days: indefatigable determination tempered by insightfulness and deep-rooted empathy.

Beyond the boardroom, Jack has been generous with his time and talent, coaching youth soccer for many years, mentoring and advising individuals across various fields, and remaining active in the parish communities he has called home.

Moreover, Jack’s dedication to Fordham Prep and its mission has been unswerving. He serves on the Fordham Prep Board of Trustees, helping to keep the institution on point and ready to face the challenges of the future.

Together with his wife, Linda, Jack has raised two sons, John and Michael, and takes special joy in their growing families—five grandchildren at the time of his Hall of Honor induction—who will carry forward the same commitment to learning and service that has defined Jack Bergen’s life.

For a lifetime of leadership and for a career that has brilliantly bridged the worlds of the military, academia, and business—always in keeping with the Jesuit ideals he has carried with him since Hughes Hall—Fordham Prep is proud to welcome John D. “Jack” Bergen, Class of 1960, into the Hall of Honor.