January 28, 2013
Even though Edward Redding ’50CBA, ’86HON graduated from St.
John’s University more than six decades ago, his connection to the
University is as strong as ever. Reminiscing about his student days
from his winter home in Florida, he speaks proudly of earning his
B.S. in Marketing from St. John’s College of Business
Administration while spending four years on the University’s
Division I Men’s Basketball team.
“I
started playing basketball at St. John’s in 1946,” he said, “and
Joe Lapchick was the coach at that time. I loved him.
Unfortunately, he left the next year to go and coach the New York
Knicks, and Frank McGuire took his place. I played under Frank
McGuire for three years. Let me tell you, that was not easy,
keeping up with my studies while playing four years of varsity
basketball. You had to be hitting the books and passing the
subjects or you were out of luck. The professors didn’t want to
know that you had a practice or a game. When you came into that
classroom, your academic performance was all that mattered.”
Redding did well in his classes, and following graduation took
the first steps in what would become a lifelong journey through the
ranks of the Nabisco Company. Although he began at the entry-level
position of stacking the company’s products onto the shelves of
grocery stores, the combination of his exceptional work ethic and
St. John’s degree quickly propelled him into Nabisco’s Marketing
Division.
“Back in my day you could start at the bottom and make your way
to the top by hard work,” he recalled. “I’m not so sure you could
do that today. But in my case, I started at the very bottom. And
then with good fortune I was lucky enough to get a job in the New
York office in marketing. The company knew what I had majored in at
St. John’s and felt that I would be better suited doing marketing
than stacking shelves.”
His success in New York led him to England, where he was given
oversight responsibility for the company’s subsidiaries in Great
Britain. Three years later he was transferred to Belgium, where he
was put in charge of Nabisco’s European operations. He finally
returned to the United States as President of the company’s
International Division.
It was at that point that he was offered what, in his words,
turned out to be “the job of a lifetime.”
“There was a big reorganization and Nabisco had just signed a
contract to be the umbrella sponsor of a worldwide men’s tennis
tour,’ he said. “Since I had been an athlete at St. John’s and had
a lot of international experience over the years, I got the
fantastic job of covering and following the tennis tour for a few
years. And then the company started sponsoring a golf tour, so I
got to market that as well. My athletic background at St. John’s
certainly held me in good stead when that opportunity came along. I
had the best job in American industry!”
Redding humbly attributes much of his career success to the
superior academics he learned in the classroom and the commitment
to discipline he learned on the basketball court. He has a strong
affinity for the Vincentians and the impact that their unique
philosophy of spiritual and practical care for others continues to
have at St. John’s.
“The Vincentians are a very special order,” he remarked. “They’ve
always been concerned with trying to help the underdog and the
immigrants, and I admire them for that. I think that as President
Fr. Harrington has done a terrific job of reminding us of that. So
I’m a big fan of the Vincentians and what they stand for. Those
values that the Vincentians taught us were very important when we
were students, and they’re still important today.”
Recognizing the heartwarming story of a young man who rose from
stacking shelves to a succession of senior management positions in
one of the world’s most recognized consumer product organizations,
in 1986 St. John’s conferred an honorary Doctor of Commercial
Science degree upon this talented and inspirational alumnus. For
Redding, this singular honor was yet another indication of the
mutual admiration and respect that he and his beloved University
will always have for each other.
“St. John’s was always such an important part of my background,”
he said. “Like so many poor kids who had very little, I’ll never
forget how difficult it was in my youth. And then for things to
suddenly change and be in a position where everything seemed to go
my way, I attribute all of that to St. John’s. I’ll always be
incredibly proud to be known as an alumnus of St. John’s
University.”