Roman Catholic High School raised $215,000 at its annual Greater Philadelphia Area Leadership Award dinner Oct. 17 at the Union League in Philadelphia. It was the highest amount raised in the 22-year history of the event, which has raised more than $2 million for scholarships and tuition assistance at Roman Catholic.

Lawyer Thomas A. Leonard received this year’s award. He is a partner and Litigation Department chair at the Philadelphia law firm of Obermayer, Rebmann, Maxwell, & Hippel, LLP.

The firm was a sponsor of the event, along with Independence Blue Cross and Equus Capital Partners, bringing professionals from law, real estate and investment firms as well as banks, universities and developers to form a who’s who of some of Philadelphia’s most prominent business and civic leaders.

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Over the years, the Greater Philadelphia Area Leadership Award has enabled the Philadelphia business community to support Catholic education, specifically the education provided by Roman Catholic High School.

Leonard is a 1964 graduate of Roman Catholic High School. He is a former controller for the City of Philadelphia and currently serves as the president of Roman Catholic High School’s Board of Advisors. In his remarks when receiving the award, Leonard mentioned the benefit of his free Catholic education at Roman and how today’s leaders should invest in the education of these young men who make up the “hodgepodge” of diversity at Roman Catholic.

Over 60 percent of students attending Roman Catholic receive some type of financial assistance or scholarship. Roman students come from 160 elementary schools throughout the Delaware Valley.