A Legacy Built on Integrity: The Paternosters and the Modern War Institute
 Eric Paternoster circa 1976–1977 |
Eric and Diana Paternoster met in Ohio, but West Point shaped the man Diana would spend her life with, and it is West Point she has chosen to honor in his memory.
Growing up in Cincinnati, Eric S. Paternoster ’74 was a gifted, intellectually curious student with several outstanding college options. He chose West Point out of a sense of duty and a desire, as Diana puts it, to “give back.” That same instinct—technical, practical, mission-driven—later drew him to the Modern War Institute. “He wanted to give cadets and others in the military the best chance at survival,” Diana says, “and modern technology is a big part of that. He felt passionate about what the Modern War Institute was doing.”
Diana earned her own degrees in the Midwest, far from the Hudson Valley, but West Point became her community too. She’s part of the Douglas MacArthur lifetime giving society, attends the Army-Navy game every year, and visits the Academy two or three times annually, including for Eric’s 50th class reunion in 2024. To her, the leadership and values Eric carried out of West Point shaped their entire life together. “He was very capable,” she says. “He always said that what he learned at West Point—integrity, honor, doing things the right way—was something he carried with him in his business career.”
Today, through the Eric S. Paternoster ’74 Memorial Modern War Institute Endowment, established in his memory following his passing in 2022, Diana is making sure future cadets have the same fertile ground for success that Eric found. She sees it as a natural extension of a partnership that always looked outward: today’s cadets, she notes, need more than a degree to compete with other high-caliber institutions, and private support is what makes that possible.
Diana encourages other graduates and families to consider a lifetime commitment or a planned gift through the West Point Association of Graduates. For her, it’s simple: a way of making sure Eric’s values—and their shared belief in giving back—carry forward long after either of them could tell the story themselves.
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Today’s cadets need more than a degree to compete with other high-caliber institutions, and private support is what makes that possible. |
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