Gerald O. Patno ’73
2009 Silver Quill Honoree

You can count on Gerry Patno. Issue after issue of John Carroll magazine, you can count on the columnist for the Class of 1973 to submit updates on his fellow Carroll graduates. He’s been faithfully delivering his dispatches since 1995.

Somebody once said that 80 percent of success is showing up. Gerry shows up and then some. You can count on him to craft columns that are uncommonly well written, in a voice that is warm, friendly, trustworthy, and often funny. That he writes well shouldn’t surprise. After all, he was – and forever will be – a John Carroll English major.

A survey of his columns will uncover nuggets galore. Try this note, from his Reunion year in 2003, in which he addresses classmates who hadn’t been back to campus in 30 years. “It’ll seem like you fell out of a house during a tornado and landed in some faraway place,” he writes. “More dorms, more learning facilities, more recreational facilities, more energy . . . and more girls than guys! Now THAT’S a horse of a different color!”

Gerry’s student days at John Carroll included ROTC, the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, and the presence of his twin brother, Bob, also an English major. His life after Carroll included a 25-year career as a marketing communications executive and a recent career change to factory-direct sales.

John Carroll remains a constant. He continues to serve his class and his alma mater with distinction through his column. For that, we celebrate him and proudly award Gerald O. Patno the 2009 Silver Quill.