Inducted in 2025
Financial Services and Real Estate Executive
Attorney
Advisor to the Prep Board of Trustees (2003-4)
Member, Prep Board of Trustees (2014-22)
Father of Two Prep Graduates

From the 1840s down through today, there have always been families who come to embody the spirit of the Prep for their generation. For over half a century now, Fordham Prep has been proud that the name Hyacinthe is woven firmly into the Long Maroon Line. Tonight we honor the first member of this quintessential Fordham family to make his way onto Rose Hill’s rosters — a trailblazer for all of the Hyacinthes who would follow.

Maurice Kenneth Hyacinthe was born in 1959 in Brooklyn, and grew up in New Rochelle and later Eastchester, New York, along with his two sisters, Sylvere and Genevieve, and his two brothers, Marcus and Llewelyn, who would follow their big brother’s lead and graduate from the Prep in ’79 and ’80, respectively. Their mother, Phyllis Corsbie Hyacinthe, was a schoolteacher who would later serve on the boards of several educational institutions, and their father, Hector Hyacinthe, was an entrepreneur who began his career in retail furniture and expanded into other fields, including landscaping, real estate, and politics — even working for a time under President George H. W. Bush.

Young Maurice attended St. Joseph’s in Bronxville, where he also served as an altar boy, and proved himself a diligent student even in grammar school. Nonetheless, when it came time to choose a high school, Maurice did not include the Prep among his top choices. Spending a “shadow day” at the Prep during eighth grade, however, slowly began to change his mind — though, in all fairness, his parents’ less-than-gentle nudging and insistence on a solid and rigorous academic program were certainly no small part of the decision.

And so, much to Mom and Dad’s delight (and, quite frankly, as they had always intended), Maurice boarded the Metro-North in September of 1973 — or August, actually, for football practice — and headed down to the Bronx to begin his Shea Hall years. The rest, as they say, is history. And since then, Maurice has never not been grateful for his parents’ guidance in that moment.

During his years at Fordham Prep, Hyacinthe worked just as hard outside the classroom as he did inside it — the perfect model for his brothers, whom he was proud would join him at the Prep. He was a member of the Maroon Key Honor Society, as well as a four-year footballer and a Student Government officer — all the while putting in weekend shifts at the family furniture store on Main Street in New Rochelle.

In Maurice’s estimation, his Prep teachers and coaches were extraordinary influences on his life, building upon the strong foundations his parents had already instilled in him. As he said, Fordham Prep was the place he learned to think for himself.

Graduating from the Prep in 1977, Hyacinthe went on to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1981, and later received his law degree from Pace University, graduating cum laude in 1996.

Along the way, he wooed and wed the lovely and talented Cassandra Howell, a Penn alumna herself. The Hyacinthes would raise three children in their Mount Vernon home — Alexander, Kimberly, and Kenneth. Much to Mom and Dad’s delight (and, quite frankly, as Grandma and Grandpa had always intended), Alex and Ken would follow in their dad’s and uncles’ footsteps, proud members of the Prep Classes of 1999 and 2008, respectively. As for Cassandra, a career educational administrator, she would serve as a member of the Prep’s Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2014 — yet another Hyacinthe to leave her mark on the school.

Maurice has enjoyed a long and successful career in real estate and finance, holding such positions as vice president and regional group
manager with Chemical Bank in the 1980s; vice president and operations manager of the Packard Frank Organization in the 1990s; executive vice president of the corporate realty services branch of Citigroup in the early 2000s; and, most recently, vice president and chief operations officer of the HMH Management Company. In addition, as an attorney specializing in real estate and bankruptcy proceedings, Hyacinthe served as an associate with the multinational firm Battle Fowler/Paul Hastings from the mid-1990s through 2003.

Alongside his professional life, Hyacinthe has always been unstinting with his time and talent when it comes to his alma mater. Following his wife’s tenure on the Board, Maurice also served as a Prep trustee, remaining on for an extended term to help keep the school on course through the uncharted waters of the pandemic, and has continued as a special consultant to the Board since then. A “Man for Others” in every sense of the phrase, he has always been generous to those institutions that matter to him beyond the Prep — from the Mount Vernon Little League and YMCA to the Westchester Clubmen, an organization serving and mentoring young African American men in Westchester County.

As much as Fordham Prep is proud to number the Hyacinthes among its own, tonight we are doubly proud to honor Maurice in particular — the Hyacinthe who started it all and cleared the way for his brothers, sons, and nephews to follow — much, we are sure, to Mom and Dad’s delight (and, quite frankly, as they had always intended).