Noteworthy
Over the course of his 50-year career, John Nucci, MPA ’79, has held many roles. Member, and then president, of the Boston School Committee. At-large member of the Boston City Council. Two-term clerk-magistrate of the Suffolk County Criminal Superior Court. And here at Suffolk, first a lecturer in the Sawyer Business School and then, for close to two decades, the University’s top administrator for community and government affairs.
Yet whatever his job title, John Nucci—who retired as Suffolk’s senior vice president for external affairs in August—is, first and foremost, a relationship builder.
During his time at Suffolk, the trust Nucci built with community neighbors, as well as the strong working relationships he forged with city and state leaders, were a foundation that enabled Suffolk to make the leap from commuter school to a more residential University.
Nucci was a crucial member of the leadership team that expanded Suffolk’s campus, shifting it from Beacon Hill to the array of academic and residential buildings that command upper Tremont Street and the surrounding neighborhood—including the Samia Academic Center, 10 West Street, the Modern Theatre and its residence hall, One Court Street, and now 101 Tremont, the University’s newest residential hall, slated to open in 2026.
“If you stroll from one end of our downtown campus to the other, you can see the hand of John Nucci,” Suffolk University President Marisa Kelly said in a message to employees. “John has played a monumental role in shaping the footprint of our urban campus.”
“We wanted the Suffolk campus to have increased visibility,” Nucci says, “but we also wanted to fit into a very historic neighborhood.” And given the University’s front-row seats on Boston’s Freedom Trail, he adds, “almost everything around our campus is probably the first something in America.”
To solve that puzzle, Nucci knew he couldn’t go asking for support if he was meeting people for the first time. Listening to community concerns—a skill he honed as a city councilor—came first, along with a willingness to adjust plans based on their input.
In the end, he says, Suffolk’s downtown expansion became a net win for the city, because “Suffolk students have helped revitalize the area. They’ve brought safety, they’ve brought spending, and most of all they’ve brought life to the neighborhood.” When they graduate, he adds, those students make their impact felt all over Boston and beyond.
If he is fond of describing Suffolk as “a school with heart in the heart of the city,” Nucci has special reason to do so. In 2018, when his kidneys began to fail as the result of a hereditary disease, dozens of potential donors, many of whom he met over the course of his career, lined up to be tested. In the end, his perfect match was a Suffolk alumna, Kerri Perullo, BS ’03, JD ’07.
“This school has meant so much to me and my family, for so many reasons, and having my donor be a double Ram is almost beyond belief,” he says. Of retirement, he adds, “it literally pains me to know I’m not going to be seeing my Suffolk friends on a regular basis. But the time was right to start thinking about the next generation of University leaders—and the future is bright in that regard.” —Beth Brosnan
To honor John Nucci’s legacy, Suffolk University has created the John Nucci Public Service Scholarship. Learn more and donate here.
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fall 2025
Photograph by Michael J. Clarke
