BC alumnus returns with success story

He paid his way through Boston College in the 1960s, selling peanuts and hot dogs at Fenway Park and driving a Checker taxi. Even the death of his mother to colon cancer during his junior year of college didn't throw John M. "Jack" Connors Jr. off course.

By the time he was 25, Connors was poised to become a corporate vice president in advertising in Detroit in a few more years, but he didn't want to be that far away from Cape Cod and Vermont's Green Mountains. So he quit and started an advertising firm in Boston.

After he retired from active leadership of the firm, Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc., Connors was one of a group of business people that offered to buy the Globe from its corporate parent, the New York Times.

Connors -- chairman emeritus of Hill, Holliday, the firm he founded with friends -- shared his path of humble beginnings to corporate success with more than 3,000 graduates and 15,000 spectators at Boston College's Alumni Stadium yesterday.

"Being here today is like coming home for me," said Connors, a 1963 BC graduate. "I first came to Boston College some 48 years ago, having been taught by my parents and family about respect, honesty, faith, hard work, and loyalty. Then the Jesuits taught me how to think, why it was important to think, and why it was especially important to think about others."

Connors received an honorary degree yesterday, a doctor of business administration, honoris causa.

Born in Roslindale in 1942, Connors, who later moved to Dedham, is one of BC's most famous commuter alumni. In those days, the campus had little housing, and most students either drove to campus or took the T. Connors worked the two jobs to cover 60 percent of his tuition bill while his mother, Mary, a secretary and his father, John Sr., a heating and air conditioner repairman, paid for the rest. Back then, tuition cost $700 his freshman year, then rose to $1,000 for his last two years.

He said yesterday that he appreciated the thoughtfulness and kindness of the Jesuits showed him after his mother died.

After college, Connors said that giving up that sure bet for success at a Detroit automobile maker was his declaration of independence. The watershed moment happened at a meeting in 1968, when his boss announced a major promotion that would first take him to Philadelphia.

"It was the next phrase that literally changed my life," Connors recalled. "He continued, and I quote, 'If he does a good job in his new role, Jack will be a vice president right here in Detroit by the time he's 30.' It was the first time I heard of it, and I was in shock."

No one would tell him where he could live, Connors said.

The first year was rough, he said. The new firm's sales totaled $37,000, but it would eventually grow into one of the top 20 advertising agencies in the country, handling accounts for several big names, including Anheuser-Busch and Dunkin' Donuts.

Through the years, Connors took on charity work on behalf of the Catholic Church and did free advertising for nonprofits at Hill, Holliday.

He is chairman of several healthcare-related boards.

Connors gave the graduates five pieces of advice for success:

"First, and this is a quote from Albert Einstein, 'Your imagination is much more important than your knowledge.' "

Maintain relationships, because no one can have too many friends or send too many thank-you notes.

Work for someone you admire and who can teach you more than what you know.

Do something for the love of it, not for the money.

"Trust in God, but lock your car."

Pedro Salcedo Uribe, 21, who received a bachelor of arts in political science and French, said he was disappointed at first that BC didn't tap a high-profile speaker, such as Condoleez z a Rice, last year's graduation headliner.

But Connors surprised him, he said.

"He kept the vibe going pretty well," Uribe said. "His advice was practical. . . . We couldn't have had a better speaker."

The ceremony did have a world leader.

Brian Mulroney, the former Canadian prime minister in the 1980s and 1990s, received an honorary doctor of laws.

Mulroney, however, didn't address the crowd.

His youngest son, Nicolas, was among yesterday's graduates, earning a bachelor's in history and French.