Fall 2005 - St. Charles Preparatory School

Alumni Notes
’61 graduate authors book
exploring what makes a hero
St. Charles alumnus Robert L.
Dilenschneider ’61 has authored another
book, this one entitled, A Time For
Heroes.(Published 2005 by Phoenix Press,
Beverly Hills, Calif., 244 pages, $24.95.)
The author of eight books, Dilenschneider
in his latest effort seeks to answer the
questions: “what does it really mean to be a
hero or heroine?” and “who, in fact, should
be (considered) our heroes?”
Dilenschneider is president and chairman
of The Dilenschneider Group, a major
public relations firm headquartered in New
York City. Dilenschneider is also a noted
speaker who has addressed scores of
professional organizations and lectured at
colleges, including the University of Notre
Dame, The Ohio State University, New
York University, and the Harvard Business
School.
He helped initiate and annually sponsors
the Borromean Lectures at St.
Charles. In 2000 he was awarded the
school’s highest honor, the Borromean
Medal for Distinguished Achievement.
Dilenschneider invited 17 prominent
and successful people to discuss in the
book’s 17 chapters various candidates who
they believe belong in the pantheon of
heroes. Among the book’s contributors
are Senators Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Forbes
magazine publisher Steve Forbes, the
presidents of New York University and
the University of Notre Dame, and two
eminent religious – Catholic and Jewish –
leaders.
Contributor of one chapter in the book
is St. Charles Principal Dominic J. Cavello,
who offers his personal views about heroes
and heroic acts and some he holds up as his
personal heroes. They include three St.
Charles students he’s known during his
years at the school.
It was an easy choice in selecting
Cavello as a chapter writer in his book,
Dilenschneider said, because he stands for
a lot that’s good in U.S. education and life.
Dilenschneider in his introduction to
Cavello’s chapter praises St. Charles and
its principal noting that he could attest to
the school’s high standards in academics
and civility, and points with pride to the
three decades Cavello has spent at St.
Charles as principal and Latin teacher.
“Dominic Cavello,” he wrote, “is a hero
to me because he is the motivating force
behind that institution. Every year, nearly
a hundred well-trained, well-educated
young men graduate from St. Charles and
go out into the world. In no small measure,
their success is a tribute to their principal.”
Dilenschneider said that the book’s
diverse heroes, some well known, others
obscure, and many surprising and unexpected
choices, come from every walk of
life. What they all have in common, he
said, is the significant difference they made
in others’ lives – often a single individual,
sometimes an entire nation.
One man singled out by Dilenschneider
was Msgr. Paul J. O’Dea, a 1933 St.
Charles graduate who served on the faculty
from 1946 to 1969, the last 12 years as
principal. “This man was an educator
beyond belief,” Dilenschneider said. “He
really set the tone for (Dominic) Cavello in
many ways. He spoke Latin and taught
Greek. He was grounded in the classics,
had a superb sense of fair play and helped
motivate a generation of young men around
him…”
Dilenschneider said “It is my hope that
readers of this book will be stimulated to
find their own heroes and to nurture within
themselves the qualities of heroism, The
times demand it.”
Asked who he would name his hero,
Dilenschneider replied it was his father,
Sigmund, who was an editor at the Columbus
Citizen, a former daily newspaper in
Columbus, when Bob was a youngster.
Freedom and independence of the press
were uncompromising articles of faith for
his father, whatever the consequences.
Once when an advertiser threatened to
withdraw a sizable advertising contract
with the paper if a certain story was
published, the elder Dilenschneider would
not back down. “He was incorruptible,” his
son said with justifiable pride.
Cavello names students as
hero candidates in book
St. Charles principal Dominic J. Cavello ’64
was among 17 contributors invited to share
their thoughts in a book, A Time for
Heroes, about their choices for “hero”
status and their qualities that earned them
that designation. Published this year, the
book was authored by 1961 St.
Charles alumnus Robert L. Dilenschneider,
an internationally known public relations
executive.
Cavello said he was surprised and
flattered to be chosen to author a chapter in
the book alongside some very notable
people. Dilenschneider said he used different
criteria to select each author, and went
through some 100 people before settling on
the final 17.
Cavello discussed classical heroes of
Greece as defined by their courage and
physical abilities, who often sought honor
on the battlefield or in other violent situations
— something that Cavello says is
fundamentally at odds with how we now
believe.
Cavello says that a hero is someone
“who overcomes great adversity in order to
do the right thing. There’s a moral component
to being a hero today, as opposed to
those ‘classical’ heroes.”
Cavello in his chapter wrote about
several people in history whom he views as
heroes, many who chose to do the right
thing at great political, social, and physical
costs. They included our country’s early
abolitionists, people profiled in John F.
Noted Author and Distinguished Alumnus
Robert L. Dilenschneider ’61 (right) was awarded the
school’s highest honor, The Borromean Medal for
Distinguished Achievement, at St. Charles’ Feast Day
Mass in 2000 by principal Dominic J. Cavello and
Advisory Board president George G. Vargo ’58.
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St. Charles Preparatory School