April 21, 2023
Charles M. Borkoski ’71
Loyal Friar alumnus
Doctor of Commercial Science
Charles M. Borkoski ’71, known as Chuck, has been dedicated to Providence College in ways large and small for more than 50 years. Since 2009, he has served on the Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees. He has been a member of the Providence President’s Council for more than 15 years. He has chaired every reunion for his class, served as a class agent every year since 1971, and has made a monetary gift to the college every year since graduation.
Mr. Borkoski was president of the National Alumni Association from 2005-2006 and president of the Greater Providence (Mal Brown) Alumni Club from 1991-1992. In 1994, the club honored him with the Mal Brown Award, its highest accolade, given to those alumni whose lives exemplify the love and loyalty for the college that was characteristic of athletic trainer Mal Brown ’33. He also received the NAA’s Distinguished Service Award in 1996.
Mr. Borkoski also is known for his philanthropy. With his wife, Leslie, he established the Chuck ’71 and Leslie Borkoski ’12P Scholarship Fund for students with demonstrated financial need. For two years, the Borkoskis served as co-chairs for A Night in Black and White, the college’s fundraising celebration in Boston. He was chair of the Annual Fund from 1999-2000 and was a consistent phonathon volunteer.
When his daughter, Jenna Borkoski ’12, was a PC student, Mr. Borkoski and his wife served on the college’s Parents Council, and he and Leslie hosted incoming PC students at a welcome reception at their home on Cape Cod each summer from 2008-2011.
Mr. Borkoski studied business management at PC. He served as a class officer, Student Congress representative, and Friars Club member. In his senior year, he was co-manager of the 21 Club, the on-campus bar. In 1971, he was among 12 seniors who decided to dribble basketballs from Alumni Hall to Madison Square Garden in New York City to celebrate the resurgent Friars men’s basketball team, which had just been invited to play in the National Invitational Tournament. During the 212-mile journey through three states, Mr. Borkoski was responsible for one of the most difficult jobs, arranging for police authorization to dribble along Route 1.
Mr. Borkoski retired in 2016 as vice president of marketing and portfolio development after a 46-year career with McLaughlin & Moran, the Anheuser-Busch distributor serving Rhode Island. The Borkoskis reside in Chatham, Massachusetts, and Naples, Florida.
