10-05-2025
Diane Foley, mother of slain journalist James Foley, urges Marquette grads to live with 'moral courage'
Even in death, Diane Foley told Marquette University graduates, her late son challenges her on how to live.
"No matter what we choose to do, each of us has the choice every day to speak out instead of being silent, to hope instead of giving up, to show mercy instead of resentment," she said at Marquette's 144th undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 10, held at Fiserv Forum.
Her son, slain journalist James Foley, was a 1996 graduate of Marquette University and a combat journalist who was kidnapped in 2012 while covering the Syrian Civil War.
Moral courage is how her son inspired her, and it is what the Marquette graduates can strive towards.
"Moral courage lives deep within us," Diane Foley said.
James Foley was publicly murdered by ISIS for being an American journalist in Syria in 2014. His beheading was filmed and disseminated on social media.
"Imagine that," said Thomas Durkin, program director for the James W. Foley Foundation and research coordinator for the Marquette University Center for Peacemaking, who introduced Diane Foley at the commencement ceremony.
"A parent's worst nightmare shared for all the world to see," he said.
After her son's kidnapping, Diane Foley said she fueled her anger at the government for repeatedly stating that Jim was the highest priority but not negotiating for his release.
But she soon started asking herself what Jim would have wanted. "Jim was challenging me," she said.
She told graduates that she realized Jim "would have stepped up for others."
Just three weeks after her son's death, her family started the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation to advocate for American hostages and wrongful detainees held abroad.
"I had a deep desire to somehow keep Jim's goodness and moral courage alive," she said.
Because of the foundation, 160 American hostages and wrongfully detained individuals have been reunited with their families, she said.
"Each of those hostages who've returned home is its own miracle," she said. "Every single person matters."
Diane Foley described her son as having a "deep curiosity about our world, its history and other cultures." It was evident when he would take a book to read during Red Sox games, she said.
James Foley graduated from Marquette University in 1996 with degrees in Spanish and history and joined Teach for America, teaching teenagers in Phoenix. While studying creative writing at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, he volunteered at the local care center, helping unwed mothers get their high school credentials while helping them share their stories.
He also studied journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago while teaching English at the Cook County Jail.
"Jim was also an ordinary person with hopes and dreams like you and I. Until tested," she said. "When tested, our ordinary son became truly extraordinary."
And you, too, she advised the graduates, "can become extraordinary."
She challenged the graduates to "find your purpose" as the students can bring hope to the world, she said.
"What gives you joy and purpose?" Foley challenged the Marquette University graduates. "What matters to you?"
Cathy Kozlowicz can be reached at 262-361-9132 or Follow her on X at @kozlowicz_cathy.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Diane Foley, mother of James Foley, speaks at 2025 Marquette commencement
