Paul Stephen McAuliffe – April 26, 2022
We only recently learned of Paul’s passing and there is no online obituary we could find.
Paul had returned to Cleveland, where he served on the board of a local nature conservancy. According to his 50th reunion essay,
As with many of us, I have lived a life with much to relate about professional achievements, family happiness, and many fun adventures. Hopefully it will be viewed as a life well lived and I will enjoy sharing these tales with all of you.
But I find myself instead focusing with much disappointment on how we have failed as a generation to carry forward with the ideals and change we spoke about so passionately while at Yale in the late 1960s. Today’s headlines include the #MeToo movement and the news that Bill Cosby has been convicted of horrible crimes, but one example of a misogynistic culture that persists; the Congressional testimony of an EPA chief who denies climate change and is actively working to reverse years of environmental progress; and yet another order from the administration deporting worthy immigrants who have lived and contributed in our country for years. Not to mention almost daily carnage from gun violence. US troops remain actively engaged in conflicts across the globe. As a generation we have put forth three US presidents, fellow Yalies Clinton and Bush and today’s Mr. Trump, none of whom will be viewed by history as wise, ethical, and sound leaders.
In our campus days we spoke of our great ideals to work against injustice, discrimination, war, environmental degradation, and the like. Remember the anti-Vietnam rallies, the first Earth Day, the Black Panther rallies? So rather than focus our time together upon the many wonderful experiences and accomplishments we have had as individuals, perhaps we should focus on the failure of our generation of leaders to deliver on those early promises, and what lessons we might learn to transmit to future generations to help them do better at staying on track.
Paul also graduated from Yale Law in ’72, after he published a law review article on “Savings Banks and Community Development: A Remedy for Runaway Capital”. He also got an MBA in ’83 from Case Western. He had a long career in managing the federal benefits office of the federal government.
As he explained on the “Board” page of the West Creek Conservancy,
After an absence of almost 30 years, I returned to Cleveland in 2019 after retiring from the Federal Reserve. It’s remarkable how much this region has moved ahead to provide an outdoor environment that my wife and I can now enjoy, with easy access to well-planned and maintained natural spaces and an extensive network of bicycle and walking trails. I learned that West Creek has been a major player in working throughout the community to help drive this change, and to support the effort I signed on as Board member and Treasurer. It’s been rewarding and invigorating to work with the talented West Creek team to build on its past success and to address new challenges in advancing the mission of conservation, protection and access throughout Northeast Ohio.
Atom Yee recalled
I don’t know what you know about Paul’s death. I learned through this Facebook post, dated April 28:
“Hello. This is Betsy Jarvi, I am Paul’s daughter. Paul passed away very suddenly on Tuesday evening [April 26]. He was at his grandson’s soccer game, and had a heart attack. Paul is survived by his wife Jean, and his two daughters, Betsy Jarvi and Lucy McAuliffe. Please keep my Mom in your thoughts. If you wish to contact my Mom her email is jeanniemca@gmail.com.
Betsy”I haven’t found an obituary online yet, but communicated with some of our Branford ’69 classmates: Steve Vaughan, Skip Hobbs, Rob Kuhbach, Keith Nelson and Tom Earley. Other classmates – David Feigenbaum and Tom Knutsen – made comments on FB. Paul’s Facebook page is still active – I recommend visiting it for a virtual catch up with his life, and also reading his contribution in the 50th Reunion Book, p.529 [quoted above]. He and Jean moved from New Jersey to Cleveland OH recently, they spent much time exploring local nature areas, and they enjoyed riding horses. We’re sad to lose him, “he was such a good guy.” To say he was well liked and respected is a huge understatement.
I have a fond memory of Paul when he was working as the Chief Ethics Officer at Becton Dickinson (BD, a large global medical technology company). He came to my school, Santa Clara University, to give a lecture to our summer undergraduate chemistry and biology research students on scientific ethics and what that looked like at BD. To explain his ethics officer job he said, “My mother, Irish Catholic to the core, always wanted to have in the family a policeman, a lawyer, and a priest. Well, with me she got all three!”
As Keith Nelson recollected in a note to Paul’ widow:
I was saddened by news of Paul’s sudden death. Paul was among a group of us in Wright Hall and Branford College who shared many days at Yale.
As freshmen we shared time walking to the dining hall and back to the Old Campus, stopping by the post office two or three times per day in search of letters from home. In the ensuing years together we shared many meals, afternoons and evenings with the Harkness Tower bells nearby, as we talked about life, events, experiences, friends, families and sports. We enjoyed late night basketball games in the squash court in the basement of Branford College. Often these games were followed by a trek for late night pizza off campus nearby.
We had good times learning to pull together as we rowed on the Branford College rowing team in quest of the Tyng Cup. Atom was the coxswain. The days were memorable and I have tears in my eyes as I write this today. Class reunions will never be the same without Paul.
May the peace that passes understanding prevail.
Keith Nelson, Ph.D. Branford College, 1969
From LinkedIn, EXPERIENCE:
- Board Treasurer
West Creek Conservancy · Part-timeJan 2021 – Present · 1 yr 11 mosCleveland, Ohio, United States
- Board member from June 2020
- Member Board Of Directors
Institute for Global EthicsAug 2006 – Jan 2020 · 13 yrs 6 mosMadison, Wisconsin Area
- Chairman of Board 2009 to 2015 Nonprofit dedicated to training, consulting and communication on ethical decision making skills. As Board Chair, led organization transformation including a successful CEO search following untimely passing of founder in 2012 Chair, Finance Committee, 2017 to 2019
- Executive Director
Office of Employee Benefits, Federal Reserve SystemOct 2001 – May 2018 · 16 yrs 8 mosNewark, New Jersey
- Chief Executive Officer for organization providing benefits and related programs for 45,000 employees and retirees of the Federal Reserve System. Work closely with FRS senior leadership to build a high-performing and diverse organization within a risk sensitive culture delivering innovative benefits and executive compensation programs. Led innovation in health and retirement program design, information security and data protection, investment management and utilization of women and minority suppliers.
- Chief Ethics Officer
- Established a worldwide ethics program including code development, training, investigations working. Developed training on ethical decision-making as a core component of organization culture. Personally conducted investigations on sensitive financial, personnel and conduct matters.
- Director Compensation and Benefits
- Worked with senior management and Board Compensation Committee to develop cost-effective programs including an innovative employee stock ownership program available to BD associates worldwide.
- Director Benefits, EEO and Labor
BP America May 1986 – Dec 1990 · 4 yrs 8 mosCleveland, Ohio
- Architect of one of the first cash balance pension plans in the U.S. Managed employee benefits and relations aspects of extensive acquisition and divestiture program working with BP London management. Established programs for targeted recruiting and advancement of women and minorities.
- The Standard Oil Company (Ohio)
- Director, Labor / Employee Relations
- Oversaw labor relations across a broad spectrum of petroleum, mining and manufacturing operations. Managed EEO compliance and affirmative action programs.
- Chief Labor and Benefits Counsel
