Regina S. Peruggi (born c. 1947)Karen Arenson

''The New York Times'', May 25, 2004. Retrieved April 6, 2008. Age at time of article was 57. is an American

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, who was the President of Kingsborough Community College from 2005 to 2014, the first woman to hold that position in the college's 40-year history.Joan Baum
"President Regina S. Peruggi, Kingsborough Community College"
''

Education Update ''Education Update'' is an American non-profit monthly newspaper, published in New York City. It focuses on issues related to education and has a circulation of approximately 100,000. The publisher, retired education professor Pola Rosen, bega ...

'', January 2005. Accessed March 16, 2007. Prior to that, she was president of Marymount Manhattan College and led the Central Park Conservancy. For 14 years (from 1968 to 1982) she was married to her second cousin,

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...

Early life and education

Peruggi grew up in a middle class family in The Bronx.Press release
"Dr. Regina S. Peruggi is Named President of Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York"
Kingsborough Community College, May 25, 2004. Accessed March 16, 2007. She is the second cousin and ex-wife of former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani. She attended Roman Catholic

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

s.Lynda Richardson
"A Scholarly Fund-Raiser's Stroll to the Park"
'' The New York Times'', May 4, 2001. Accessed April 6, 2008. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the College of New Rochelle in 1967.

Career

She started her career as a

drug abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

counselor in a state jail. She worked as a teacher at the

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, college, and graduate school levels. In 1974 she joined York College of The City University of New York, then moved to Washington, D.C. with

and worked as a coordinator at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington. Around 1980 she returned to school,"Regina Peruggi, President, Central Park Conservancy"
''

'', March 2004. Accessed March 16, 2007. and then earned a Master of Business Administration from New York University. By 1984 Peruggi worked in the central office of the City University system, and again returned to school at night, earning a Doctor of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. By 1986, she had become an associate dean for the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

system, specializing in

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

programs. In 1990, Peruggi was named president of Marymount Manhattan College, a position she held for eleven years; during this time the college's enrollment doubled. At Marymount, she was credited with turning around the institution financially, in part by recruiting wealthy business personages to the college's Board of Trustees.Ruth G. Davis
"The ''Very'' First Lady"
''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'', April 25, 1994. Accessed September 8, 2019. One professor said, "She's great at fund-raising, beefed up the student body and the faculty, devoted to community outreach and diversity, and brought a great moxie to the school." She served as the second President of the Central Park Conservancy from 2001 to 2004, where she sought to continue its restoration via increased fund-raising and appeared on the PBS reality television show '' Back to the Floor''. Peruggi was named president of Kingsborough Community College in May 2004. Under Peruggi's leadership, Kingsborough Community College experienced record-high enrollment numbers. It was also named one of the top four community colleges in the country when it was chosen as a Finalist with Distinction for the 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Having reached age 65, she announced she was stepping down in April 2014, effective at the end of the coming summer."CUNY Board Appoints Stuart Suss as Interim President of Kingsborough Community College"
Press release,

, April 29, 2013. Accessed June 2, 2014.Ned Burke
"Exclusive: Kingsborough President Regina Peruggi To Retire This Summer"
Sheepshead Bites, April 15, 2013. Accessed June 2, 2014. Peruggi has served on the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the GreenPoint Foundation, the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

of Greater New York, the Silver Shield Foundation, and the Center for Redirection Through Education. In 2006 she was honored as a 2006 New York State Senate Woman of Distinction. By 2009, Peruggi was the Chairperson Emerita and Chairperson of the Commissioners of the

Women's Commission For Refugee Women and Children The Women's Refugee Commission is a 501(c)(3) Non-Governmental Organization that aims to improve the lives and protect the rights of Women, Children, and Youth displaced by conflict or crisis. Established in 1989 by Norwegian Actress and film ...

; on the Board of Managers of the Havens Relief Fund Society; and on the boards of Berkeley College, the

Academy of Mount St. Ursula High School The Academy of Mount St. Ursula is a Catholic girls’ college preparatory school in the United States, which was founded in 1855 as a part of the Monastery of St. Ursula in the town of Morrisania (now a part of the Bronx, New York). In 1892, ...

, the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, the

Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce serves as an advocate for member businesses across the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and also operates a nonprofit economic development arm known as the Brooklyn Alliance. History The Brooklyn Chamber of C ...

, and the

International Longevity Center The Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Columbia University. Located on the Columbia University Medical Center campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, the school i ...

."Job Creation and Workforce Development Summit"
New York City Global Partners, City of New York, June 25, 2009. Accessed November 12, 2009. In 2008, Peruggi was named to the Commission on Lifelong Learning of the American Council on Education and around the same time was named to the Advisory Board of the Student World Assembly.

Personal life

On October 26, 1968, Peruggi married

, her second cousin, whom she had known since childhood. In 1975, the couple agreed to a trial separation. Giuliani met local television personality Donna Hanover in 1982, and they began dating when she was working in Miami. Giuliani filed for

legal separation Legal separation (sometimes judicial separation, separate maintenance, divorce ', or divorce from bed-and-board) is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is gra ...

from Peruggi on August 12, 1982. The Giuliani-Peruggi marriage legally ended in two ways: a civil divorce was issued by the end of 1982, while a Roman Catholic church annulment of the Giuliani-Peruggi marriage was granted at the end of 1983 reportedly because Giuliani had discovered that he and Peruggi were

second cousins Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

Alan Placa Alan J. Placa (born 1944
New York Times) is an

1940s births Living people Presidents of campuses of City University of New York College of New Rochelle alumni Teachers College, Columbia University alumni New York University Stern School of Business alumni People from the Bronx American people of Italian descent Catholics from New York (state)