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Alumni Association President Jamie McLaughlin ’76 had an “unceremonious” beginning at Lafayette.
“I distinguished myself as a varsity starter on the soccer team in my freshman year,” recalls McLaughlin, managing director of Lydian Wealth Management in New York, “and I nearly flunked out.”
What happened next is why he remains a dedicated alumnus. Simply put, professors just wouldn’t give up on McLaughlin, who says he lacked “scholarship and intellectual maturity.”
“I was nurtured, goaded and upbraided, and put back on the track to developing intellectual curiosity,” he recalls. “That’s the reason I was spared.”
McLaughlin, the son of a dentist, put aside his pre-med courses, changed his major to history, and never looked back.
He took English courses with the legendary William Watt.
“Imagine, I went from chemistry to reciting Browning,” he says with a grin. “Little did I know I was at the table of the master.”
The young McLaughlin also explored history with professors like Richard Welch, Robert Weiner, and Ellen Hurwitz.
“In their own ways, they said to me ‘you can contribute in this class, you’re really a smart guy,” McLaughlin says. “I really needed that to regain my confidence.”
The professors’ instincts were on target.
McLaughlin went on to Harvard, where he earned a master’s in public administration from The Kennedy School of Government.
From 1981-91, he served in the Connecticut General Assembly. During a six-year term in the State Senate, he served as chairman of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee and was a member of the State Bond Commission.
A liberal Republican, he was a specialist in tax policy and the primary sponsor of legislation to preserve open spaces and the state’s “right to die” law. In 1985, the Hartford Courant named him one of Connecticut’s ten best legislators.
McLaughlin was a financial adviser in the private client group of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., New York. He was regional president, managing director, and regional sales manager of Mellon Bank’s New York region. He was instrumental in building Mellon’s New York presence and was an original member of a team of 30 investment professionals that managed $1.5 billion.
McLaughlin joined Lydian Wealth Management in 2005.
Looking back on what he calls a “variegated” career (he’s an avid gardener), McLaughlin marvels at taking on fields he hadn’t studied in college.
“Ironically, I never took a government & law or economics course at Lafayette, and now I’m a financial adviser with a strong tax background,” he says.
The intellectual freedom he had at Lafayette, McLaughlin says, underlies his professional accomplishments. He studied geology, anthropology, and history. And he wasn’t particularly concerned about grades.
“I studied for the sake of learning, not with a vocational path in mind,” he says. “That’s what’s so great about this place.”
A staunch advocate of liberal education, McLaughlin fears that today’s students are too focused on the workplace. Then again, he says, they have to be when they’re paying $40,000 a year.
McLaughlin is proud of having played soccer for Gary Williams, now the University of Maryland’s basketball coach, and the 9-2-2 season they registered in his junior year. After graduating, McLaughlin coached the team.
A member of the College’s Leadership Council, McLaughlin served as an alumni associate to the Board of Trustees and as president of the Maroon Club, which raises “second mile” support for athletes. He received the Clifton P. Mayfield ’09 Award for distinguished service to the College.
Known in business circles as a good communicator, McLaughlin is a master of the English language. He’s proud of his ability to choose the correct word for the right circumstance.
He learned it in Don McCluskey’s Introduction to Writing class.
“I remember being corrected on syntax, grammar, and diction,” he says. “I place a lot of value on using the right word.”
Believing that he would have been discarded as a freshman in a larger, less caring school, McLaughlin always makes time for Lafayette students. Hardly a day goes by, he says, when he isn’t conferring with an intern or extern. He’s hired alumni and often offers career counseling.
On a recent visit to Lafayette, he interviewed a student who wants to work on Wall Street.
“I’m a big, big, big believer that Lafayette did good by me, and I do good by Lafayette,” he said. “I feel joy when asked to give back.”
McLaughlin lives in Darien, Conn., with his wife, Julie, and son, Mac.