UC Alum and Benefactor, Businessman Robert Fealy to Receive Honorary Doctorate at UC s December Commencement

In the 40 years since he graduated the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor’s in business administration in 1973, Robert Fealy of Chicago has stayed connected to the university, serving in key leadership roles and helping students, faculty and other alumni by advancing both the learning environment and innovation.

In recognition of this service and his many achievements, Fealy will receive an Honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degree from the university at the December Commencement, set for

9 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 14

, in Fifth Third Arena. 

Fealy, president, chief operating officer and director of The Duchossois Group in Elmhurst, Ill., one of the world’s leading manufacturers of consumer and commercial electronic products, has consistently partnered with UC students, faculty and fellow alumni to create business and economic opportunities for the local region and beyond.

For instance, he lent his leadership in terms of fundraising as co-chair of UC’s recently completed $1 billion Proudly Cincinnati Campaign and chaired that campaign in the Chicago region. He serves in an ongoing capacity as the chairman of the UC Foundation Board of Trustees, after having served as a Foundation trustee since 2006. He was named Trustee of the Year in 2011.

A member of UC’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business Advisory Council, Fealy also provides students with hands-on opportunities via recruitment for hires, for internships and for cooperative education work experience. To facilitate the launch of new companies by UC business students and to provide an economic engine to the region, Fealy and his wife, Rose, established the Fealy Endowment for Entrepreneurship and the Bearcat Bridge.

This is in addition to scholarships for business students that he funds every year, including his most-recent $1 million gift to support honors scholarships in the Lindner College of Business, as well as underwriting the 2010 renovation of Lindner Hall auditorium featuring state-of-the-art audiovisual and learning technology. Now known as the Robert and Rose Fealy Auditorium, the revamped space benefits students and faculty, as well as business leaders and executives visiting campus to share their expertise.

Fealy originally came to UC in 1969 as an engineering student before switching to a business major with a minor in industrial management. And because of his dual interests in the respective disciplines of business and engineering technology, Fealy also has advanced the future of engineering education and the training of tomorrow’s engineers at UC. He donated more than $1 million to fund advanced software and hardware in UC’s Alumni Engineering Learning Center in the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS). The center’s showcase is a classroom featuring seven projector-equipped tables and a central-command kiosk that allows the instructor to transmit any student project onto the main classroom display for group discussion.

The center, coupled with an advanced philosophy of engineering education based on collaboration and a revamped curriculum, “is probably the single biggest development in undergraduate education in the college since Dean Herman Schneider invented co-op in 1906,” according to James Boerio, head of the Department of Engineering Education (CEAS).

In 2009, Fealy received the UC Lindner College of Business’ Carl H. Lindner Award for Outstanding Business Achievement in recognition of his many years of business leadership in Cincinnati and beyond. In 2010, he was awarded the Richard J. Daley Medal by the Illinois Venture Capital Association for his extraordinary support to the Illinois economy through his venture capital activities. Fealy founded Duchossois Technology Partners in 2000, which has invested in more than two dozen early stage technology companies, and he currently serves as chair of Chicago Ventures, the leading seed and early stage venture capital firm in the Chicagoland area. He also is a member of TechStars Chicago and Social Venture Partners, and he was a founding member and is secretary of the Illinois Venture Capital Association. While residing in Cincinnati in the mid-1980s, Fealy co-founded New Asia Bancorp, the largest Chinese-American bank headquartered in Chicago, which was sold to Cathay General Bancorp in 2006.

In addition, Fealy currently serves as chairman of the board of directors of AMX Corporation and Brivo Systems, and serves as a director of Pella Corporation and Churchill Downs, Inc., where he sits on the Executive and Strategy Committees.

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