The Alumni Association was formed in 1951, a year after the first graduating class from Ryerson Institute of Technology. The Association functioned until 1984 when it was replaced by the (now–defunct) President's Alumni Council.

An "alumni affairs" function or office existed at Ryerson as early as 1965. In 1969, Ryerson agreed to fund an official Alumni Affairs Office. Louis Gonsalves, a founding member of the Alumni Association, was hired as Ryerson's first Director of Alumni Affairs, concurrent with other duties within the Student Services Department. Because the Alumni Affairs Office worked closely with and acted as a facilitator for the Alumni Association and evolved as an extension of the Association in order to service its needs. In 1977–1978, to facilitate increased fund–raising activites, a Private Funding Office was officially established under, at first, the assistant directorship and then, the directorship of Gonsalves, who divided his time between Alumni Affairs and Private Funding. In 1979, Louis Gonsalves was appointed full–time Director of the Office of Private Funding and David Butler was seconded to the Alumni Affairs Office as Acting Director of that department. In 1980, David Butler was appointed Director of the Alumni Affairs Office. The Alumni Affairs Office ceased to function as a separate department in 1985 when it merged with the Private Funding Office to form the Office of Development. David Butler, Director of Alumni Affairs became the Assistant Director in the Office of Development and Bill McPherson, the Director of the Private Funding Office became the new department's Director. In 1987 Rudy Putns replaced Bill MacPherson as Director and and under his direction the office was officially renamed the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs.