Dowling College was a private liberal arts college in Oakdale, New York, on the south shore of Long Island. The school traced its origins to 1955, when Adelphi College (now Adelphi University) began to offer extension classes in Sayville, New York. In 1959, the Sayville branch became a four-year, degree-granting college called Adelphi-Suffolk College. In 1963, the college moved to its Oakdale site, the 1901 mansion and estate of railroad owner William K. Vanderbilt. The school became independent from Adelphi in 1968 and was renamed in honor of its chief benefactor, Robert Dowling, a noted aviator and city planner. Dowling had a school of aviation that prepared students for such careers as air traffic controller or pilot. The school stopped training pilots in 2010 and closed its doors entirely in 2016, because of declining enrollment and struggling finances. The school’s athletic teams were called the Golden Lions.
