Title:A Degree of Difference

Carlos Sera is overcome with emotion as he receives his degree from the McDonough School of Business via a remote live connection. Sera earned his degree 63 years after he began his studies, which were interrupted by the Cuban Revolution

In the fall of 1955, Carlos Manuel Sera began his freshman year at Georgetown. In the spring of 2018, at age 81, he finally received his diploma.

During that 63-year gap, Sera became a successful international businessman, raised a family, and became a grandfather. But he always remained bothered that he had not officially graduated from Georgetown. “Not finishing was always there,” he told The Washington Post.

The son of a Cuban diplomat, Sera had been forced to quit school in his senior year after the Cuban Revolution broke out. He was just four credits away from earning his degree.

This January, Sera’s granddaughter Vanessa Weitzman visited the Hilltop on a college tour. When she returned home and began asking him questions about his Georgetown experience, he finally confessed the truth to his family. His daughter Mayte Weitzman sent a letter to the university asking if there was anything that could be done.

The response was an emphatic “yes.” Georgetown arranged for Sera to take his final class from his home in Houston— Federal Income Taxation with McDonough School of Business Professor Thomas Cooke. Sera earned an A.

On May 18, Sera sat in his living room surrounded by his family, watching the Commencement ceremony via a special remote hookup. He stood as his name was called.

“Carlos, we know you’re watching from Houston,” said Paul Almeida, dean and William R. Berkley chair at McDonough. “We are tremendously proud of you and your lifetime of accomplishments.

“And, while you have always been a Hoya, today we make it official.”

Editor’s note: Carlos Manuel Sera died on June 30.

To read more, go to the McDonough School of Business magazine, msb.georgetown.edu/Georgetown-business-magazine.