Alumni Spotlight: Robert Rahn’ 76
By Alison Lowenstein
When Robert Rahn was majoring in Sociology and minoring in Criminal Justice at St. Francis College, he faced a tough decision. Rahn had been accepted into the NYPD Police Academy, the only road he could take to fulfill his dream of becoming a policeman in the Big Apple. But he hadn’ t graduated yet, and he wanted his bachelor’ s degree as well as to be an officer.
Fortunately, Professor Edna O’ Hearn, who was the head of the sociology department at the time, stepped in. She helped arrange Rahn’ s schedule so he could complete his degree and attend the Academy simultaneously.
In remembering O’ Hearn’ s efforts on his
behalf, Rahn said,“ She had a tremendous influence on the way the college worked for me and was very considerate … she made the schedule work for me. Without that, I would have dropped out.”
Rahn went on to graduate in 1976, three years after he became a policeman. After 20 years on the force, he retired in 1993, and a year later, he started his own private investigator firm. He has worked on many cases for a wide range of clients, but his most rewarding case arrived in his office in 2013.
Rahn and his partner, Kim Anklin, were contacted by the mother of a convict named Jonathan Fleming, who was serving a lengthy sentence for murder. But Fleming said he didn’ t kill anyone and had already spent more than two decades wrongfully imprisoned.
Fleming was serving time for the Aug. 15, 1989 murder of Daryl“ Black” Rush in the Williamsburg housing projects. Despite Fleming’ s claim that he was in Orlando on the night of the murder, he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life.
Rahn and Anklin took on the case, clocking in over 750 hours of investigative work within a year. They travelled to Puerto Rico and South Carolina to track down witnesses and information. They obtained a statement from the driver of the getaway car, and they identified another suspect for the crime. They also uncovered a receipt proving Fleming was in Orlando.
On April 8, 2014, Fleming was finally
Bob Rahn’ 76 with Jonathan Fleming, and exonerated and released from prison. Last June, Kim Anklin. the city agreed to pay him $ 6.25 million for his wrongful conviction.
The case attracted a lot of media attention around the world, and as a result, Rahn and Anklin received letters from many people asking for help. Rahn says these wrongful conviction cases,“ are very complicated and time consuming and you can’ t take more than one or two at a time.” Because of the publicity, Rahn and Fleming are in demand as speakers in various forums and schools; last year, they spoke at a St. Francis College Sociology class, which Rahn says he enjoyed.
To top it all off, last year, Rahn and Anklin were named Investigator( s) of the Year by both the Associated Licensed Detectives of NYS and the NJ Licensed Private Investigators Association.
Rahn credits St. Francis for providing him with resources to help with his PI career.“ From attorneys to police officers, the professional networking from attending St. Francis is tremendous. It was a great school.” ●
Faculty Notes
Dolores Anastasio’ 13 with her granddaughter Francisca Gabriele’ 17 and Dean Allen Burdowski at the College’ s first White Coat ceremony recognizing Nursing students for their dedication to the health and well-being of their future patients.
Allen Burdowski( Dean of Academic Programs and Development) went to New Orleans for the Risk and Insurance Management Society’ s( RIMS) 2015 Annual Conference and Exhibition to meet with the Spencer Educational Foundation and talk about current and planned programs in Risk Management and Insurance. St. Francis is working on building a Risk Management minor with the possibility of it becoming a full major. The Spencer Foundation works to include Risk Management in curricula to create a pipeline of talent for the insurance industry.
The NYS English Council selected Wendy Galgan( English) as a 2015 Educator of Excellence. The
award is given to teachers“ who are leaders in the classroom [ and ] collaborators with colleagues,” who challenge students to become skillful readers and writers. Professor Galgan was also selected by the New York Council for the Humanities to be a Public Scholar where she will offer presentations to non-profit organizations around New York state.
Mary Gelormino( Center for Entrepreneurship) spoke at the Metropolitan NY College Career Planning Association conference held at NYU. She spoke about“ How to Advise Students Interested in Entrepreneurship.” Prof. Gelormino also participated as a judge along with Barbara Edington( Project Management) and Naomi Kinley( Career Services) for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship NY Metro Region Start Up contest. The three reviewed business plans presented by area high school students.
Sara Haviland( History) was named to the 40 under 40: Professors Who Inspire 2015 list by Nerd Scholar, an organization that provides tools to students to help them make informed decisions about their college educations. Nerd Scholar chooses educators who are influential in changing how students think, work and view the world. The professors are judged on a teacher’ s“ ability to captivate and engage students in the classroom, their outstanding involvement on campus and in the community, and their overwhelming passion for their subject matter.” In addition to teaching history, Haviland has written the soon-tobe-published book, James and Esther Cooper Jackson: Love and Courage in the Black Freedom Movement( University Press of Kentucky).
Jennifer Wingate( Fine Arts) was selected to serve on the jury for the competition to build a National World War I Memorial in Pershing Park, Washington, DC. Wingate was selected in part because of her work documenting World War I memorials across the country in her book, Sculpting Doughboys: Memory, Gender, and Taste in America’ s World War I Memorials( 2013).“ Many people don’ t realize that more than 100,000 Americans died in World War I and we have never honored them with a national memorial.” Dr. Wingate helped whittle down more than 350 submissions to five. The winning design for Pershing Park will be selected in January. ●
ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE TERRIER | FALL 2015 | 9