Manhattan College Mourns the Passing of Former Trustee Bob LaBlanc ’56
LaBlanc was a member of the board of trustees from 1982 to 1994 and from 1995 to 2010.
Robert E. (Bob) LaBlanc ’56 passed away peacefully on Saturday, January 5 at his home in Manhattan at the age of 84. LaBlanc was a trustee emeritus at Manhattan College, from which he graduated in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
LaBlanc served on the College’s board of trustees from 1982 to 1994 and from 1995 to 2010. He had been a trustee emeritus since 2010. A tireless contributor to the College, LaBlanc and his wife Elizabeth established the Jeanne-Marie LaBlanc Memorial Scholarship in memory of their daughter, Jeanne-Marie, to provide tuition assistance to graduates of New Jersey high schools who have need of financial aid to secure their college education.
LaBlanc, who grew up in Queens, was commissioned as a second lieutenant after graduating from Manhattan, and spent three years as the communications officer for a base in the Arctic, as well as 10 remote radar sites in what was then called the DEW Line, Distance Early Warning, which looked for Soviet missiles possibly targeting the United States.
LaBlanc earned his MBA from New York University in 1962, in the midst of a successful career in the telecommunications industry. Among other positions, he worked at Salomon Brothers for 10 years, where he was a general partner and founder of its telecommunications team, before joining Continental Telecom, Inc. (now part of Verizon) as vice chairman.
He founded Robert E. LaBlanc Associates, Inc. in 1981, an information technologies consulting and investment firm, from which he retired in January 2010. In retirement, he volunteered once a week as a tour guide at the USS Intrepid and participated in the choir at the Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola on the Upper East Side.
LaBlanc is survived by Elizabeth, his wife of 56 years, four children: Elizabeth, Robert Jr., Paul, and Michelle, and seven grandchildren.
A wake will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 8, from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home – 1076 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10028.
The funeral mass will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 10 a.m.at the Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola – 980 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10028.