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Canisius High School Today
moved to Washington, D.C., to join the
staff of a new daily, USA Today.
While at USA Today, Brady has
grown into an award-winning sports-
writer and two-timewinner of theDick
Schaap Excellence in Print Journalism
award given by Northeastern
University School of Journalism–and
he is quick to note that one of those
wins came as part of a team. His mod-
esty reflects his deep respect for the
greatness of others, and the joy at shar-
ing their company, learned at CHS.
Brady and his wife Carol, now com-
munications chief of the American Bar
Association, reside in Arlington, Va.
Son, Steve, and daughter, Claire, make
their careers at the World Bank Group
andWalter Reed ArmyMedical Center,
respectively, inWashington, D.C.
John “Jack” Breen, P.E. ‘49
John “Jack” Breen spent after-school
hours drilling math and English with
his Aunt Collette, a Sister of Mercy, to
“win” a ticket to what she knew would
mean lifelong success: a half-schol-
arship to Canisius High School. The
grandson of Irish immigrants went
on to become only the second college
graduate in his entire extended fam-
ily (along with Aunt Collette). And, he
says, he owesmuch of his success to the
academic and competitive challenges
posed by both the faculty and his fel-
low students at CHS.
Father Harry Boyle’s math instruc-
tion “lit the spark” that would carry
Breen into an honorific career as an
engineer. Rigorous foreign language
study of Latin, Greek and two years of
French at CHS would a decade later al-
low the doctoral candidate to pass an
on-the-spot translation test by read-
ing aloud articles from a French engi-
neering magazine. “Above all,” writes
Breen, “my classmates at CHS inspired
me to think big, think professionally,
and think that I could do something in
life to live up to the CHS standards.”
After graduating in 1949, Breen
earned an NROTC scholarship to
Marquette in Milwaukee, Wis., spend-
ing four years as a midshipman in the
US Naval Reserve. In 1953 he was com-
missioned as a Civil Engineer Corps
Officer and began serving active duty
as a Seabee from 1956 to 1959. By
1962, the GI Bill had afforded Breen
the opportunity to earn both a mas-
ter’s degree (University of Missouri
at Columbia, 1957) and a doctorate
(University of Texas at Austin, 1962).
Breen has been a professor on
the faculty of University of Texas at
Austin since 1959, and the distin-
guished Nasser I. Al-Rashid Chair
(now Emeritus) in Civil Engineering
since 1984. He is the recipient of sev-
eral teaching awards, a prolific author
and speaker in his field of reinforced
and prestressed concrete bridges and
buildings, and is renowned through-
out the United States and Europe in his
career as a research and consulting en-
gineer. High professional honors and
prizes awarded inAvignon, France, and
Washington, D.C., will reside alongside
Breen’s induction into the Canisius
High School Hall of Honor, the “fore-
front of [his] loyalties.”
Breen attended reunions in 1974,
1999 and 2009, maintains corre-
spondence with classmates Father Bill
O’Malley, S.J. ‘49, and Bill Hall, and is a
long time contributor to the Canisius
High School annual appeal in return for
a deep sense of gratitude and indebted-
ness for “a splendid start.”
John “Jack” Breen is the father of
eight children, 11 grandchildren, and
husband to Marian for 59 years. In ad-
dition to golf, sailing, skiing, hiking and
bicycling, he maintains an active inter-
est in local school boards and PTAs, his
parish council, Habitat for Humanity,
Caritas Soup Kitchen, and many oth-
er community organizations near his
home in Austin, Tx.
Thomas A. Lombardo, Jr., M.D. ‘65
In 1965, Thomas Lombardo’s class-
mates looked upon him as some-
one who had used his heart, spirit,
strength and mind to an exceptional
degree in service to others and love for
God. Being elected Mr. Canisius by his
peers his senior year capped off what
Lombardo characterizes as “a life’s
experience which has never ended.”
More recently, Lombardo was thrilled
when former Canisius High School
President JohnKnight called to tell him
of his induction into the Distinguished
Alumni Hall of Honor, calling it “over-
whelming” to be included in such a
distinguished group and an honor that
he will cherish for the rest of his life.
Lombardo went on to graduate from
The College of the Holy Cross in 1969
and SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine
in 1973. Thereafter, he began a 12-year
career with the United States Army
Reserves, attaining the rank of cap-
tain. He served his surgical residen-
cy with Millard Fillmore Hospital and
orthopedic residency with SUNY at
Buffalo, earning his board certification
in orthopedic surgery in 1980. He is li-
censed to practice in both New York
and North Carolina.
Professionally, Lombardo has served
Buffalo and Western New York for his
entire career, pioneering rotator cuff
and arthroscopic knee surgery in this
region in addition to becoming accom-
plished in total joint replacement sur-
gery. He brought his considerable skill
to his roles as president of the Western
New York Orthopedic Society, of the
New York State Society of Orthopedic
Surgeons, and of the medical staff
of Millard Fillmore Hospitals. From