L. Jay Oliva

Lawrence Jay Oliva (September 23, 1933 – April 17, 2014), known as L. Jay Oliva, was the 14th President of New York University.

Born in Walden, New York he earned a B.A. from Manhattan College (1955) and a M.A. (1957)/Ph.D. (1960) from Syracuse University. He was a University Fellow at Syracuse, a Fribourg Fellow at the University of Paris and a member of Phi Gamma Delta.

Born to an Italian father, his mother was an Irish-speaker from County Galway, Ireland, and he showed interest and lent NYU to Irish-themed celebrations, exhibitions, etc. under the aegis of his Presidency of New York University. He also supported the formal establishment of the University's Irish and Irish-American Studies program within Glucksman Ireland House NYU in 1993.

Oliva authored and edited numerous works on Russian and European history, including, "Misalliance: A Study of French Policy in Russia During the Seven Years' War" (New York University Press, 1964) and "Russia in the Era of Peter the Great" (Prentice-Hall, 1969). His fields of academic specialization are 18th-century Russia, Russian diplomatic history and 18th-century Europe.

Oliva was given honorary degrees by Tel Aviv University (Doctor of Philosophy, 1994);University College Dublin (Doctor of Literature, 1993); Hebrew Union College (Doctor of Humane Letters, 1992); Saint Thomas Aquinas College (Doctor of Laws, 1989); and Manhattan College (Doctor of Humane Letters, 1987). He was decorated a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor (1997) and received the Premio Guido Dorso of Italy (1998).

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