On a rainy afternoon in May, the 96 members of New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Class of 2025, gathered with their families in Carnegie Hall. They crossed the stage, collected their degrees, and all together recited the Hippocratic oath. But while their graduation into the ranks of medical doctors was the point of the ceremony, in some ways it did not feel like the day’s main event.
That belonged to another pair on stage, Dr. Robert Grossman and Ken Langone—graduates of a different sort, who as dean and board chairman respectively were presiding for the 18th and last time over the graduation ceremony. This was their swan song, or maybe something more of a victory lap.
Grossman spoke of his hard-fought path to the top of NYU Langone—“I had no sponsors, no mentors, no coaches. No one was there to introduce me to any ‘important’ people or direct my career”—before imparting 15 nuggets of wisdom he had collected. (No. 1: “It doesn’t matter where you come from, it does matter how high you aim.” No. 5: “Depth of knowledge is very important.” No. 14: “Find the right partner.”)
