January 03, 2022

Andreas Widmer, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and the director of the Art & Carlyse Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship, recently eulogized Art Ciocca, namesake of the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship for Forbes.

"I have done much more good through my company than I ever did through my philanthropy,” said Art Ciocca, a business leader and benefactor America should have known better than it did. He passed away on Dec. 18 at the age of 84, yet his belief that entrepreneurship is the most powerful driver of human progress must live on.

Ironically, Art’s name is most likely to endure through his philanthropy, especially his funding of “Ciocca Centers” of Principled Entrepreneurship at The College of the Holy Cross, Santa Clara University, and The Catholic University of America, where I teach.

The challenges facing America are mounting, from soaring inflation to plummeting social mobility, from rising fear to fading self-belief. He maintained that entrepreneurship–that serving others–was key to overcoming them. Instead of turning on business, he hoped people would embrace it as essential to their wellbeing, and a new generation of principled entrepreneurs would unleash its boundless capacity for good."

Read the full article, "The Art of business: Cheers to the creator of box wine."