Interview of Dominic Galante

Mr. Dominic Galante was born in 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The youngest of three children and a first-generation Italian-American, the majority of his life, both professional and private, was spent in Philadelphia. As a child Mr. Galante was raised in a devout Catholic home and attended Catholic grade school in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. Upon graduating from Northeast Catholic High School in 1962 he planned on joining the workforce, as attending college was not financially possible. In the fall of 1962, with the help of his high school typing teacher, he was interviewed and hired at LaSalle College as an Administrative Assistant to the Office of the College Registrar. Mr. Galante spent the next seven years attending the evening school at La Salle College. He received a B.A. in Management in 1969 at which time he was promoted to Assistant Registrar. In 1983 he was again promoted, this time to head the Office of the University Registrar. November 5, 2012, marked his 50th year of employment at La Salle University but his decision to interview at La Salle in 1962 also impacted his private life. In the summer of 1963 he met Ms. Mary Walter while she was working in the Admissions Office and on June 25, 1966, they were married. The Galantes raised their three children, Michael, Patricia, and Christine, in the Juniata Park neighborhood of Philadelphia; all three attended and graduated from LaSalle University. In 1990 he and his wife moved to Abington, Pennsylvania. The oral history that follows addresses the many changes to La Salle University, particularly the Office of the Registrar, over the past 50 years. Other topics addressed include what it was like growing up as part of the baby boom generation in Philadelphia, the influence of the Christian Brotherhood on Mr. Galante’s experience at La Salle, and how his decision to work at La Salle ended up shaping the majority of his adult life. Mr. Galante’s story will become an invaluable piece to the social history of Philadelphia and history of La Salle University