Just to say the name, Gabe, conjured up an image in our community. He was our leader and our friend, but far more. A transparently passionate man, Gabe was an advocate, an adventurer in life, and a lover of all things Italian. By conviction he was a strategist and an obdurate proponent of letting those on the ground get on with operations. Curious and convivial by nature, he enjoyed friends, good stories and jazz and, above all, set the warm tone of any occasion. All this said, Gabe鈥檚 noon, his midnight, his talk, his song, to paraphrase W.H. Auden, were his late wife, Debra, his children and especially his treasured grandchildren.
Gabe grew up in West Philadelphia in an Italian neighborhood. His parents came from Isernia in Molise and Giulia Nuova in the Abruzzo but confessed to little affection for Italy鈥檚 Mezzogiorno. Gabe reflected on this and would often say that he was thankful to be an American with a fascinating career, but his heart was in Italy. Later in life, he became an Italian citizen, a resident of Isernia.
His parents urged him to study, to have a career. To fund his university education he worked in one of ACME鈥檚 industrial bakeries. This afforded him the chance to pursue classes in engineering at Villanova University. Engineering was to be his calling, as he liked to say proudly: ordering and structuring things was the essence of his life, always seeking positive outcomes. He learned the craft of business at Temple University, where he later joined the Board of the Business School.
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Gabe鈥檚 career began at General Electric (GE) who, in the early 1960s sent him to Turin. While in Turin, now in his late 20鈥檚, he grabbed the chance to re-connect with the 鈥淚talianisms鈥� he had grown up with, traveling to Molise and Abruzzo to search for his roots.
He loved the training and opportunities GE gave him but was soon moving onwards. Later he served as president of Sprint鈥檚 Eastern Group before joining Cable & Wireless, Inc. as president, becoming their CEO for North America. Under his leadership he led the company towards expansion, establishing and growing a global Internet infrastructure. Ever restless, Gabe next became CEO of Network Solutions, where he led the company鈥檚 initial public offering on the NASDAQ. Following this he served as president, chairman, and CEO of Talk America for six years, transforming the company from a small telecommunications provider to a profitable corporation. In 2004 Ernst & Young named Gabriel Battista the Communications Entrepreneur of the Year for the Greater Washington Area.
In his late fifties, Gabe felt he had spent enough time in business. It no longer held the same fascination for him. So, he retired and with the same urgency that had characterized his business career, sought out new adventures in the world of philanthropy.
Gabe took as much pleasure from philanthropy as he had from business. He believed giving back was a duty and over the last 15 years of his life gave back generously through service and financial support. 听
Given his personal journey, it was a natural step to join the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). This, in turn, provided him with a world of friendships rooted in a heritage that resembled his own.
In 2006, through NIAF members, he was introduced to 91直播 of Rome, and with characteristic commitment took it to his heart. He was captivated by AUR鈥檚 Film and Digital Media program and promptly both joined the AUR Board of Trustees and funded AUR鈥檚 Media Lab (later named in his honor). Simply put from his engineering and business background: 鈥淚 saw the University鈥檚 potential and believed in its development鈥�.
Gabe became chair of AUR鈥檚 finance committee. As fate would have it, as the university sought Middle States accreditation in 2009 it also faced the biggest crisis in its forty-year history and Gabe was on point to help resolve it. The university鈥檚 enrolment dropped massively after the 2008 financial crisis. This threatened AUR鈥檚 viability. The Board was divided, but the Chair trusted Gabe to find a solution and, characteristically, he did. He re-configured the university鈥檚 business plan and, despite board resignations, brought AUR鈥檚 operations onto an even keel. Later, looking back seven years, he could not help but (modestly) marvel at his own belief in AUR and the positive consequences of his critical intervention.
In 2012 he assumed the chairmanship of the trustees, and over almost two mandates, he has been a steadfast leader. He has overseen academic growth and above all the making of a genuine international university. Each year at commencement he was, as he liked to say, the cat that had found the cream: proud and genuinely thrilled for AUR鈥檚 students.
Sometimes Gabe confessed to being libertarian, someone who found energy in change, yet all who knew him prized his conscious belief in order, direction and humanity. It is easy to trace these two seemingly different sides of his character back to his childhood.
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In an interview with AUR鈥檚 alumni magazine, Gabe recalled a telling incident. In 1944, Gabe鈥檚 mother Emma mailed a picture to her brother Joe Di Colla, who was fighting in Normandy at the time. On the back of the picture, Emma wrote 鈥淒ear Joe, you have a new nephew. His name is Gabriel.鈥� It was in fact a picture of newborn Gabe Battista with鈥� a rattle in the form of a telephone! Premonition or fate, the photograph captured the yet to be Gabriel Battista: a pioneer in telecommunications and software. Uncle Joe gave Gabe this picture 30 years later, and as Gabe recalled with a huge smile, 鈥淢amma ha sempre ragione鈥�.
An Italian-American story, he leaves his heart in the Mezzogiorno of Italy and those old neighborhoods of Philadelphia, but his head for business and for championing philanthropic causes like AUR has left an indelible mark.
To say he will be missed is simply trite: Gabe filled a room with his strong voice and laughter, with his tales and with his creative will to get things done. He has left us too soon, 鈥渁t the point of inflection鈥�, as he always said, 鈥渨ith the best yet to come鈥�. The entire community of AUR took energy from this heroic spirit. His humanity, intelligence, and steadfast loyalty were supreme qualities. Above all the university has benefited from his friendship, passion and unwavering integrity.
Below, an interview conducted by Professor Ottorino Cappelli in 2017, as part of the "Italian Leadership in America" project, a series co-produced by i-Italy and NIAF (The听National Italian American Foundation).听