Commencement

P.J. Carlesimo

P.J. Carlesimo was men’s head basketball coach at Seton Hall for 12 years, from 1982 to 1994. He led the Pirates to their first NCAA Tournament in 1988, and a total of six NCAA appearances in his final seven years at Seton Hall. Carlesimo was named NCAA Coach of the Year in 1989 after his squad finished a surprising 31-7 and advanced to the NCAA Championship Game.  In addition, he was named Big East Coach of the Year in both 1988 and 1989.  

A native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Carlesimo graduated from Scranton Prep in 1967 and from Fordham University in 1971. He was a member of the school’s 26-3 basketball team in 1970-71, the winningest team in school history. 

Carlesimo has been inducted into the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, the Seton Hall University Athletic Hall of Fame and Wagner College Athletic Hall of Fame.  

Carlesimo started his coaching career as an assistant at Fordham University in 1971, before being appointed head coach at New Hampshire College for one season. He then spent six seasons as the head coach at Wagner College and led the Seahawks to their first NIT appearance. He moved to the NBA in 1994 when he was named head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Carlesimo’s winning season in his first year in the NBA coming from the collegiate ranks made him the first coach to accomplish that feat in 25 years. In June 1997, Carlesimo was hired as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, a position he held until December 1999. For five seasons (2002-07), Carlesimo served as lead assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, winners of three of five NBA titles. Prior to joining the Spurs, he was a broadcaster for NBC Sports and Spurs Television for two seasons. He returned to the NBA head-coaching ranks for the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007, and he coached there during the first season the team moved to Oklahoma City. In all, Carlesimo has coached for more than 35 years, including 25 years as head coach. 

Carlesimo also has an extensive background in international competition. He has coached the USA Basketball Select Team in Las Vegas. He served as an assistant coach for USA Basketball for the 1992 Olympic Games, the 1990 World Championships, the 1990 Goodwill Games and the 1988 Olympic Trials. In addition, he was the head coach of three other U.S. Teams, including the 1991 World University Games squad, winners of the gold medal. 

Carlesimo and his wife, Carolyn, have two sons, Kyle and Casey. He is a familiar presence on the Seton Hall campus and is constantly supportive of the aspirations of young people. For his commitment to excellence in intercollegiate and professional athletics and his generous commitment to educating and forming youth as a leader and a teacher, Seton Hall proudly awards P.J. Carlesimo the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Luna Kaufman

Luna Kaufman was born in Poland in 1926 to a fourth generation Krakow family. After the outbreak of World War II, she, her parents and her older sister were interned in the Krakow Ghetto, then Plaszow, Hasag-Skarzysko and Leipzig concentration camps. 

Her father and sister were deported to Auschwitz, while Luna and her mother spent the war years together. Ms. Kaufman’s father, sister and 70 members of her extended family perished in the camps.  Determined to resume a normal life, she and her mother returned to Krakow where she completed her high school education and in fall 1946 enrolled at the Jagiellonian University and Music Conservatory, graduating with a degree in musicology in 1950. She and her mother emigrated to Israel where, in 1951, she married Alex Kaufman, a chemist from the United States.   

Her greatest “dividends” are her six grandchildren: Manya, Andy, Evan, Dora, Elena and Sasha. For years, Luna Kaufman was a working mother in New Jersey, and her own mother, Maria Fuss, arrived in the U.S. in 1957 where she lived until her death. In 1960 the Kaufmans moved to Watchung, where Luna became active in the League of Women Voters and the Girl Scouts of America, as well as environmental causes and her temple. Luna Kaufman served as the first female president of Temple Sholom in Plainfield. During her term of office she supervised the restoration of the congregation’s facilities and its religious school. 

In 1982, “The Flame,” a Holocaust memoral sculpture by internationally renowned artist Natan Rapaport was installed at Temple Sholom. On that occasion, Governor Thomas H. Kean announced the formation of the Governor’s Council on Holocaust Education, and as a charter member, Ms. Kaufman served on the council for 10 years. Currently, the Rapoport sculpture hangs at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park, New York, and his “Liberation” monument was installed in Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey, by the committee which she co-chaired.  

Ms. Kaufman has been active in the performing arts as president of the New Jersey State Opera and a member of the Mayor’s Task Force for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. She is a member of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and served as chair of the Advisory Board of the Holocaust Center at Drew University. Luna Kaufman is the chair emerita of Seton Hall’s Sister Rose Thering Endowment for Jewish-Christian and Holocaust Studies. With the support of the Endowment and of Yad Vashem, Ms. Kaufman has recently published her memoirs, Luna’s Life, written to inspire readers of all faiths and to give witness to the power of forgiveness and reconciliation.  For her personal courage in the face of persecution and her unflagging dedication to interfaith education and human dignity, Seton Hall University proudly awards Luna Kaufman the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Bill Raftery

Bill Raftery recently completed his 27th season as an analyst for CBS Sports’ and ESPN’s college basketballcoverage. Prior to his broadcasting career, he was Seton Hall’s head basketball coach for 11 years, from 1970 to 1981. During his 16-year intercollegiate coaching career he gained three NIT and four ECAC Tournament berths and was named Coach of the Year in 1979 by the New Jersey Basketball Writers Association.  Coach Raftery led Seton Hall to a 154-141 record during his tenure at our University.  

Raftery was a New Jersey schoolboy legend as an All-State selection in basketball, soccer and baseball at St. Cecilia High School, Kearny. In his senior year, he led the team to the New Jersey state championship and ended his high school career with 2,192 points, a state record at the time. Then he attended La Salle University, where he played under legendary coach Donald “Dudey” Moore. He set a freshman scoring mark with 370 points. The next year, he led the varsity team with 17.8 points per game, and in his senior year, he co-captained the Explorers to the National Invitational Tournament. Raftery earned a degree in history from La Salle and later a master’s degree in education from Seton Hall. In 2001, he received an honorary doctorate from La Salle.  

Raftery serves as an analyst for CBS Radio/Westwood One’s coverage of the NCAA Men’s Final Four. Raftery served as an analyst for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets, and since 1981 he has announced several major events, including the Big Ten Championship, the ACC Championship, the Big East Championship and the McDonald’s High School All-Star Game. 

Mr. Raftery has co-hosted “The Basketball Show” and called “NBA on CBS” action. He has served as course commentator for many Senior PGA Tour events. He was the studio host for ESPN’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament in 1980. In 2004, Raftery received a special Victor Sports Award and the Walter Payton Sweetness Award in recognition of his outstanding work in the community throughout his lifetime. He has also won a New York Emmy Award for single event coverage for Game Five of the New Jersey Nets-Indiana Pacers series during the 2002 NBA playoffs. In 2006, he was the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Award winner. Bill Raftery serves as president of W.J. Raftery Associates, an events and marketing firm. He lives in Florham Park, New Jersey, with his wife, Joan and has four children: Christi, a Seton Hall graduate, Kelli, Suzi and Billy. He has two sons-in-law, Nick Wood and Scott Herbst, and two grandchildren, William and Alexandra.  

For a lifetime of public service that has benefited others, his consistent professional excellence and his exemplary servant leadership, Seton Hall University proudly awards Bill Raftery the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.