The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes Saint Louis University — Madrid Campus alumni for outstanding achievements in their professional lives, personal integrity and stature, and service to SLU-Madrid. This award honors alumni who graduated prior to 2001.
2023 Honoree
Edgardo Rodriguez-Quilichini ('83-'84)
Judge Rodriguez-Quilichini has an extensive career in public service. A firm believer in advancing public good, he has been a strong promoter of cultivating civility and respect in society.
Judge Rodriguez-Quilichini is a United States Administrative Law Judge in Orlando, Florida, and has presided over more than 5,000 hearings in federal disability law. Prior to his appointment, he served as general counsel for a U.S. district court, where he assisted the judges in the consideration and resolution of a wide variety of issues and cases. He also worked for a large law firm with over 100 attorneys and successfully represented Forbes 500 companies in state and federal courts. As a past federal public defender, he provided legal representation to defendants in criminal cases. Prior to that, he served as a deputy attorney general and assistant solicitor General, where he appeared in court to argue before three-judge appellate panels and submitted over 1,000 appellate briefs in both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit based in Boston, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Rodriguez-Quilichini earned his undergraduate degree from George Mason University, and obtained a Master of Diplomacy from Schiller University in London; a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, and Master of Laws in International Law from the University of Notre Dame.
If you ask Judge Rodriguez-Quilichini about his days as a student, he will not hesitate to say that his time at SLU-Madrid sparked a period of blooming and personal advancement combined with a rich multifaceted learning experience. He feels proud and deeply grateful to have been a student at SLU-Madrid.
Judge Rodriguez-Quilichini finds inspiration in his loving family, and he enjoys spending leisure time with his wife, daughter, grandson, and two dogs, an Australian Shepherd named Max, and a Border Collie named Walt. Every year he takes a week off and goes on a spiritual retreat with his family to visit a Franciscan Monastery in Pennsylvania.
He has served on the Board of Directors of multiple cultural associations. In 2003, he was knighted as "Comendador" of the Imperial Hispanic Order of Charles V.
He holds a black belt sixth degree in Judo. Fighting in Judo was his favorite activity, and he was a multiple-time medalist at the highest levels. His last competition as a veteran athlete was in 2021, but numerous times he has been Team USA Coach at Pan American and World Veterans Judo Championships at different venues all over the world. He is currently a commissioner for the International Judo Federation and the Pan American Judo Confederation, and serves on a committee for USA Judo.