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# 74 •nECEMBER 14 , 2015
Commencement
Ceremony. Stevens’ president,
Dr. Kenneth C. Rogers,
met Sinatra in July 1984
when the singer accompanied President Ronald
Reagan to Hoboken on a
campaign trip. Dr.Rogers
sent Mr. Sinatra a photograph of the singer taken
on the institute’s campus.
The correspondence opened the door for an invitation the college had been
considering for more than
10 years. Sinatra lamented
the fact the he never finished high school and had
wanted to attend Stevens
if he had. Thus, Sinatra accepted Dr. Rogers’ invitation and gladly came returned home to Hoboken.
His disparaging words at
Carnegie Hall were forgotten, and Hoboken welcomed back its favorite son!
Why was (and still is) he
so important for the Italian Americans?
Frank Sinatra will always be
important to Italian Americans because he was one
of them. Although Sinatra
was always billed as an
14 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com
“American” singer, he was
fiercely proud of his Italian
heritage. Unlike other Italian American performers
and celebrities, Sinatra
never changed his name.
Dino Crocetti became
Dean Martin. Anthony DiBenedetto became Tony
Bennett. The list goes on
and on, but Sinatra kept his
“vowels” at a time in Ame-