ROBERT MCNAMARA, ’78, MD
Chairman of Emergency Medicine at Temple University Hospital
“To win like we did was an amazing rush,” Robert McNamara, ’78, MD, recalls of the 1977 Dad Vail Regatta. Over 30 years later, he runs Temple University’s emergency room and still races boats, noting that the two have a lot in common.
“As a physician, you’re the captain of the team, which I was at La Salle, so it’s an experience derived from that where you lead by example,” he says.
As a La Salle student, McNamara studied biology on the pre-med track and was a member of the crew team. He attributes much of his success to being a student athlete surrounded by a team of hardworking people. He worked as an orderly at Misericordia Hospital in West Philadelphia. It was there that he found his love for emergency medicine.
Working in a hospital during such a turbulent time in Philadelphia history gave him first-hand experience in the field.
Following his time at La Salle, McNamara went on to study at Jefferson Medical College. Against the advice of others, he chose to follow his passion. “I was actually advised by the dean of my medical school not to go into emergency medicine. He said that I’d be throwing my career away,” he said. But, he took the bold move of trusting his gut and that is what lead him down the path of a successful career that he loves.
When he’s not running Temple’s emergency room, McNamara stays true to his athletic roots by coaching and paddling as a Dragon Boat Racer. As such, he has won over 100 world championship medals. His most recent competition took him to China to compete at the international level. Though his travels take him far, he’s proud to say he’s still a Philly kid at heart.
McNamara spends his life helping the people of the city he has always called home. “To save a young person who’s been shot and hopefully put them back on the road to a good life is pretty cool,” he said. “Not many people get to do that. Even in medicine not many people get to say that they actually helped to save a life.”
DONALD DEGRAZIA, ’78, CPA, ABV, CFF
Gold Gerstein Group, LLC
Donald DeGrazia, ’78, CPA, ABV, CFF remembers his days with the Lightweight 8 vividly. “When the
officials cruised over in their launch after the race to tell us we had won the Vails,” DeGrazia recalls, “I immediately remembered a conversation with Mac (Robert McNamara, ’78, above) at the end of our freshman year… Mac turned to me and said we would win the Vails before we got out of La Salle.”
Two years later, after spending most of his time training and studying, DeGrazia and his fellow crew team did just that, bringing home the gold in the 1977 Dad Vail Regatta.
Following graduation, DeGrazia entered a small firm in Trenton, NJ to begin his career in accounting. Eventually, his love for rowing brought him closer to Philadelphia, where he joined the firm that would later become Gold Gerstein Group LLC. Now a partner, DeGrazia focuses on income taxes and business valuation.
“It’s taken me, really, around the world,” he says. Gold Gerstein Group LLC is a member of Integra International–an international association of independent accounting firms. Integra is composed of 125 members in roughly 61 countries.
DeGrazia served for two years as the Global Chairman and remains an active member of the Global Board. But, looking back, DeGrazia can trace his biggest accomplishments back to his days at La Salle. “We were not afraid of anybody,” he said of his teammates, “whether they were heavyweights or lightweights.”
As for his personal life, DeGrazia says that his love for rowing is what introduced him to the love of his life, his wife, Susan. They met, he said, while he was visiting a nearby college with a friend from the rowing team. “43 years, three kids, and one grandchild later—there was another good outcome from rowing.”
He remains in contact with many of the members of the team. And hopes to do so in the years to come. He explains, “It’s been a lifelong type of thing.”