[1] He was a "people person" known for his fundraising skills and fostering collaboration, interdisciplinary research and learning, and civic engagement.

In 1967, he earned a master's degree in higher education administration from the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan.

One month later, the Avery Point campus in Groton was designated the undersea research center for the Northeast and Great Lakes region.

After a two-year battle, he persuaded trustees to oust head football coach George Perles as MSU athletics director in fall 1991.

[1] His tenure saw the construction of the Jaharis Family Center for Biomedical Nutrition Research in Boston, the Bernice Barbour Wildlife Medicine Building in Grafton, and the Tisch Library, Dowling Hall, and the Gantcher Family Sports and Convocation Center in Medford.

In the early 1990s, he worked with US Senator Ted Kennedy to convene the Massachusetts Campus Compact of sixty colleges and universities.

[3] Following his retirement from Tufts in 2001, DiBiaggio served two terms as a trustee of the University of Massachusetts, appointed at the recommendation of US Senator John Kerry.

He was a member of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and served as president of the board of the American Cancer Society Foundation.