Who

The former dean of NYU Law, Sexton is the president of New York University.

Backstory

Raised in a religious family in Brooklyn, Sexton went to Catholic school and attended Fordham, where he earned a bachelor's and master's degree in religion. A decade-long stint teaching at Brooklyn's Saint Francis College followed, before Sexton returned to Fordham to enroll in a PhD program in religious history. Apparently not quite ready to leave grad school behind, he then took the LSAT and applied to law school. Although he was initially rejected by Harvard Law, the school changed its mind after a group of friends lobbied the admissions committee on his behalf, and after picking up his law degree, Sexton moved to Washington to clerk for United States Supreme Court Judge Warren Burger. (Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, clerked for Burger too.)

In 1981, Sexton joined the faculty of NYU Law; seven years later he was named dean. He earned high marks over the course of his 14-year tenure by raising more than $300 million for the school and attracting a slew of prestigious faculty members, moves that secured NYU Law a position as a top 10 law school and boosted its reputation with employers. His success made him the frontrunner to take over as president of NYU when the school's longtime head, Jay Oliva, stepped down in 2001. Sexton was appointed the school's 15th president in 2002.

Of note

Like any university president, Sexton spends much of his time on the fundraising trail, crisscrossing the country to help the college meet its $1 million-a-day fundraising quota, which is part of a broader $2.5 billion capital campaign. Raising cash is a particularly pressing priority for Sexton: NYU's endowment is substantially smaller than other major universities in the area and roughly a third the size of Columbia's, even though NYU has nearly twice as many students as its uptown rival. But Sexton has been busy on other fronts as well. Since taking over, he's pushed for professors to spend more face time with NYU undergrads, and in 2003 he championed a plan to reorganize the teaching structure to allow professors to spend less time on research and more time in the classroom. (Sexton has obeyed his own directive: He's one of the few university heads who can still be found teaching classes, including one called "Baseball as the Road to God.") When he isn't glad-handing donors, teaching undergrads, or putting out fires, the inexhaustible Sexton is active outside the university. He spent four years as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, handing over the reigns to real estate developer Jerry Speyer in 2006.

Keeping score

Sexton is one of the highest paid university leaders in the nation. He earned $849,121 from NYU in 2006.

Drama

Sexton hasn't pleased everyone, of course. Downtown residents have long been irritated by NYU's colonization of their neighborhood, resentment that has mounted since Sexton took over and moved forward with plans to expand the university campus. He's also had to contend with unhappy graduate assistants who staged a strike after he refused to renegotiate their contracts.

In print

He's the author of page-turner Redefining the Supreme Court's Role: A Theory of Managing the Federal Court System, and one of the authors of Civil Procedure: Cases and Materials, one of the most widely used text books in American law schools.

In person

Sexton was once an extreme coffee addict: At his peak, he says he consumed more than 30 cups a day. He's since cut back on the habit. One thing he hasn't cut back on is his propensity to shower NYU students and faculty with affection. The white-bearded Sexton is famous for greeting people with bear hugs.

Personal

Sexton's wife, Lise E. Goldberg, died in 2007 at the age of 54. Until her death, she was president of the Charles H. Revson Foundation. He has a daughter, Katie, from his marriage to Goldberg, as well as a son, Jed, from a previous relationship. Sexton and his daughter live in the NYU president's house on Washington Square.