Inducted in 2019
Assistant Moderator, Prep Dramatics Society (1965-1966)
Educator; Author
Building Supplies Industry Executive
Advisor to the Prep Board of Trustees (2016-2019)

Among the hallmarks of a Jesuit education is the concept of eloquentia perfecta.  As the Latin term suggests, fluency and persuasiveness of speech or writing are parts of this Society approach to scholarship, but there is more to the tradition as well.  Eloquentia perfecta is about the formation of the whole person: instruction in the use of reason and moral discernment with the goal of expression that is beautiful, clear and engaging, but always ultimately directed towards the good of all and the greater glory of God. 

Certainly, William "Bill" Perry, Class of 1964, understood these lessons well, making eloquentia perfecta a guiding principle of his life.  He will also remain the only student-journalist in school history to have scored an interview with the editors of MAD magazine — and at the original MAD offices in lower Manhattan, to boot.  To use the most perfectly eloquent phrase in this situation: that is just freakin’ cool!

William Malcolm Perry was born in New York City in 1946.  His father, Walter Perry, was a security officer at the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan.  His mother, Stella Luczkiewicz Perry was a head librarian for the New York Life Insurance Company.  As a boy, Bill lived on Tinton Avenue in the South Bronx and attended his parish grammar school, St. Anselm’s.  The Perrys would move to Winchester Avenue in Yonkers after Bill’s grade school graduation.

A bright, well-read young man with a penchant for composition, Bill Perry arrived at Rose Hill in September of 1960 to begin his Fordham Prep career.  Straightaway, he found the Prep’s rigorous academic program to be a perfect fit for him.  As he would later remark, making the sacrifices necessary to allow him to attend Fordham Prep was the greatest gift his parents ever gave him.

During his Hughes Hall years, Bill stepped up to the plate with the JV Baseball Team, was a member of the Publicity Staff and Business Staff of the Dramatics Society, served on the Council of Discipline, and, of course, made time for the charitable and devotional activities of the Sodality.  A dedicated student throughout his time at the Prep, Perry was a part of the Maroon Key, as the Prep's honor society was known in those days.

Most of all, however, Bill sought extracurriculars that would help hone his skill with words.  He was a member of the Library Staff under fellow Hall of Honor Inductee, Fr. George McAleer, and he competed with the Latin Sight-Reading Team under the guidance of fellow 2019 inductee, Fr. Thomas Crowley, SJ.  Bill also wrote for the Ramkin, and served as editor-in-chief of Letters, the Fordham Prep literary magazine.  Under Bill’s leadership, the magazine was reimagined, revitalized and brought once again to prominence among the school community.  In fact, Letters is where he would publish his well-received MAD interview.

Bill graduated from Fordham Prep in 1964 and remained at Rose Hill to earn his BA from the University in 1968.  During his college years, Bill played rugby, participated in student government, and remained involved with Prep life as an assistant moderator of the Prep Dramatics Society as well as co-writer and assistant director of My Son the Hun, the Prep's 1966 spring musical.

After his time at Rose Hill, Bill served as a naval officer aboard the USS Wasp.  He and his shipmates would be awarded Meritorious Unit and Navy Unit Commendations for outstanding achievements.

Returning to civilian life in 1971, Bill married Margery Hale Furman, a University of Maine alumna who would later work as an administrative officer at Wellesley College.  The Perrys would raise two children, Chrystie and Craig.

After completing an MA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, William Perry would launch his career in education in 1974, first as an English teacher at the Norfolk Academy in Norfolk, Virginia, and then from 1976 through 1981 as a director and assistant headmaster at the North Cross School in Roanoke.   He would return to the Norfolk Academy as director of the Upper School in 1981, where he would remain through 1983.

Whether in the classroom or the head-of-school’s office, Perry was known for his tirelessness, his unfailing dedication to academic excellence, and his insistence that his students be given the tools they needed to think, speak and write with precision and authority.  Clearly, Hughes Hall's lessons were not lost on him.

In 1983, the Perrys moved north to Massachusetts where Bill would channel his managerial experience as a school supervisor into a career in human resources, accepting a position as a vice president at Furman Lumber, Inc.  Education however, was never far from Bill’s mind, and he would serve as an advisor and trustee to various schools and educational consortia throughout New England.  After sixteen years in the business world, Perry returned to school life in 1999 as an assistant prefect of studies and an eighth grade religion teacher at the Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart.

Despite all the academic institutions to which William Perry has lent his time and talent, he has never failed to spare his energy and eloquence for alma mater.  His constant communiqués have helped keep the tight-knit Class of 1964 together, and he has been a frequent contributor to Ramview, the Prep’s alumni newsletter.  His words and efforts have led to the creation of not one, but two endowed scholarships: the Charles DaParma, Jr. Scholarship, honoring a legendary Prep classics teacher, and the Class of 1964 John J. Vrionis Scholarship, named for one of Bill’s inspirational classmates.  Moreover, Bill has established the SSgt. Robert C. Murray '64 Award, granted each year at graduation, in memory of a classmate who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his ultimate sacifice in Vietnam.

Perry joins all three of these men in the Prep’s Hall of Honor.

As Fordham approached its 175th anniversary in 2016, William Perry took on the role of extraordinary advisor to the Prep’s Board of Trustees, researching and authoring an endowment report for the school and helping to update the Prep’s long-term strategic plan.  Most recently, Bill has been working with the Office of Engagement, Development and Communication to reinvigorate the Prep’s planned giving program — the Shea-McDonough Legacy Society.

The author of a novel and two monographs, Bill is now retired.  He and Margery split their time between Tennessee and Maine.

In the immortal words of the ever-sagacious Alfred E. Neuman, MAD magazine’s fictitious mascot: “The problem with talking in circles is that it's impossible to find a point.”  William Perry has made it a point never to talk in circles.  And for his straightforwardness, erudition, and clarity of insight, Fordham Prep will always have gratitudo perfecta.