One of the university's best known and most successful graduates, Frederick A. DeLuca, who founded the Subway restaurants, received an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

It was very special to receive this honor, DeLuca said, in that his mother, Carmella, had always wanted him to become a doctor. When he received his degree, he looked up at her in her seat and said, "Mom, I finally got it."

Fred DeLuca, the UB grad who founded and runs Subway restaurants, receives an honorary doctorate from President Salonen. DeLuca, as graduation speaker, told the graduates: "Every destination is worthwhile, even if it’s just selling sandwiches."

DeLuca, who was the principal speaker, told the graduates that they would have many choices in life, such as the one he had had in choosing to open a sandwich shop in Bridgeport just before he started college. He drew on his own example to remind the graduates, "Everything you do, no matter how small it seems, can be worthwhile. And it can influence your life and the lives of all around you."

DeLuca's Bridgeport sandwich shop grew to 16,000 stores all around the world over 35 years.

There were many touching moments in the ceremony, presided over by UB President Neil Albert Salonen.

Salonen presented an honorary doctor of humane letters degree posthumously to George B. Blake, a 30-year faculty member dearly beloved by students and colleagues alike. Virginia Blake, his wife of 37 years, received the degree on her husband's behalf. Professor Blake died in June of cancer.

Deepa Gopu, sister of the late Kiran Gopu, a UB graduate student in Computer Science who was killed in the terrorist attack on World Trade Center Tower II, received her brother's Master of Science degree on his behalf.

Ms.Gopu said she remembered how proud her brother had been to work at the World Trade Center. She told the audience she had questioned him about why he would ever want to be in such a busy, crowded place. "My brother told me, 'If I wasn't here, I would never know what it's like to be in the center of the financial heart of the world.'

Ms. Gopu, on behalf of her family, presented UB with a $25,000 check to begin a scholarship fund in memory of her brother. "I'm sure he's somewhere watching us," she said as tears filled her eyes. "I just want to tell him that I love him." The crowd responded with thunderous applause.

Deepa Gopu, whose brother Kiran was a victim of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, speaks to the graduates. She accepted his Master of Science degree in computer science and established a UB scholarship fund in his memory.

President Salonen said Kiran "studied hard and was full of hopes and dreams." He told Ms. Gopu, the scholarship established in his memory would inspire those same hopes and dreams in other young men and women as dedicated as Kiran. "You have created a legacy that will keep his memory alive forever," he said.

Kiran Gopu

Kiran Gopu had completed his classroom work and had just begun a full-time internship at Marsh Inc. three weeks before the Sept. 11 attack. He was 25. To contribute to the scholarship fund, send your check payable to the Kiran Gopu Scholarship Fund to: Office of Institutional Advancement, University of Bridgeport, 380 University Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06601.