Jimmy Dunne, the principal and senior managing principal of Wall Street firm Sandler O’Neill, is credited with being a driving force in saving the firm in the dark days after 9/11. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about 9/11,” he told the crowd at a Notre Dame Club of New York dinner at the Union League Club on Thursday night.

Dunne, Notre Dame class of ’78, admitted under questioning from the sister-and-sister combo of NBC correspondent Anne Thompson (Class of ’79) and CNBC reporter Mary Thompson (Class of ‘85) that he has had a lifelong passion for his school, but never in all his years had he managed to contribute 1 cent to the local branch of Notre Dame boosters.

But this year, he offered to make amends on the home front. “Whatever you raise tonight, I’ll match,” he pledged, which meant he was writing a check for $12,000 before going home, boosting the one-night haul for the scholarship fund to $24,000.