April 22, 2022
John W. Flynn ’61
Trustee Emeritus, Providence College
Vice Chairman/CFO (Retired), Fleet Financial Group
DOCTOR OF COMMERCIAL SCIENCE
John W. “Jack” Flynn ’61 rose through the ranks of the banking industry to become vice chairman and chief financial officer of Fleet Financial Group.
One of the college’s most generous benefactors, Mr. Flynn has given to PC every year since his graduation. He and his wife, Joan, established the George P. and Anna M. Flynn Endowed Scholarship in honor of his parents to primarily benefit Rhode Island students with unmet financial need. The Flynns are members of the 1917 Society, which recognizes lifetime giving to PC, and have made a planned gift to the college.
A lifelong resident of Warren, R.I., Mr. Flynn participated in the initial class of the Liberal Arts Honors Program at PC and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in accounting. Following graduation, he became a certified public accountant and worked as a senior accountant for Ernst & Ernst for six years while also seeing active duty in Germany as a sergeant in the Army Security Agency. He then was controller of Pearson Yachts, a manufacturing company based in Portsmouth, from 1967-1969, at which time he joined Fleet. Eventually responsible for Fleet’s accounting and control, audit, capital markets, legal, public finance, public policy, and treasury-money management functions, he took early retirement in 1993.
Mr. Flynn taught at PC as Fleet Executive in Residence and Adjunct Visiting Distinguished Professor from 1993-1999. He served on the PC Board of Trustees from 1994-2001 and has been a trustee emeritus since 2004. He chaired the Annual Fund from 1990-1991 and also served on the Liberal Arts Honors Leadership Council, the School of Business Advisory Council, and the Providence President’s Council. Mr. Flynn received the Faithful Friar Award from PC’s National Alumni Association in 2016 and was awarded the Mal Brown Award by the NAA’s Greater Providence Chapter in 1992.
His involvement in his hometown of Warren was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. A former member of the Town Council, Mr. Flynn is a member and inaugural chair of the Warren Athletic Hall of Fame and the author of A Diary of 101 Years of Warren Athletics. He has been a trustee, auditor, lector, and religious education teacher (40 years) at St. Alexander’s and St. Mary of the Bay Churches. The Flynns are the parents of three daughters and eight grandchildren, one of whom will enter PC in the fall as a member of the Class of 2026.
