March 26, 2025
Judge Frank Caprio ’58, ’08Hon., ‘America’s nicest judge,’ to be featured speaker at Providence College commencement
Judge Frank Caprio ’58, ’08Hon., whose compassion from the Providence Municipal Court bench made him an internet sensation and gained him the title “America’s nicest judge,” will be the featured speaker at Providence College’s 107th commencement exercises.
The undergraduate ceremony for the Class of 2025 will take place at Amica Mutual Pavilion in downtown Providence on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at 11 a.m.
The commencement for graduate and continuing education students will be on Friday, May 16, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. in Peterson Recreation Center on campus. The speaker will be Michael Cox ’97SCE, commissioner of the Boston Police Department. He will be awarded an honorary degree at the ceremony.
The college also will honor six people, including four alumni, with honorary degrees during the undergraduate ceremony:
• Most Rev. Richard G. Henning, STD, who was appointed archbishop of Boston by Pope Francis on August 5, 2024. Archbishop Henning previously served as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Providence from 2023-2024.
• Ann Manchester-Molak ’75, the first female executive vice president of Providence College and a member of the college’s first coeducational class. She retired in November 2024 after a 45-year career at the college.
• Kerri Murray ’95, president of the nonprofit Shelter Box USA, a global humanitarian organization that assists people left homeless by war and natural disasters.
• Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., founding director of the St. Martin de Porres Center for Health and Human Dignity in PC’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences. Brother Ignatius was instrumental in founding the nursing program at PC.
• Christopher K. Reilly ’84, chair of the Providence College Board of Trustees since 2018 and a member of the board since 2009. He will step down from the position on July 1.
• Ronald P. Stride ’62, a philanthropist and retired senior vice president and managing partner for Asia of Booz Allen Hamilton.
Judge Frank Caprio ’58, ’08Hon. is the son of Italian immigrants who passed along to their three sons a sense of responsibility and commitment to service and education. Judge Caprio graduated from Central High School where he was a member of the wrestling team, later inducted into the Rhode Island Wrestling Hall of Fame. He worked three jobs to afford his tuition at PC, where he studied political science with the goal of becoming a lawyer. He attended evening classes at Suffolk University Law School while teaching high school in Providence. He became a lawyer in 1965.
Judge Caprio was appointed a judge in Providence Municipal Court in 1985. Sessions from his traffic court were broadcast as a television show, “Caught in Providence,” which was syndicated nationally on 200 stations across the country. Clips from the show on YouTube and Facebook garnered billions of views. His blend of humor and understanding in the courtroom resonated with viewers and earned him the title “America’s nicest judge.” He retired in 2023.
Judge Caprio is the author of Compassion in the Court, a memoir published in February 2025, when he was 88 years old. He is a sought-after speaker for humanitarian and legal events around the world. He holds honorary degrees from both PC (2008) and Suffolk University School of Law (1991) and was similarly honored by the University of Rhode Island in 2016. He was chairman for 10 years of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education, the governing board for the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, and Community College of Rhode Island.
Judge Caprio and his wife, Joyce, are the parents of five children. They have seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
