Profiles

  When Nicki Pecori Fioretti graduated from Loyola University with an MBA in finance in 1996, she never dreamed she’d be returning in triumph two decades later. But return she did, as the director of community affairs for the Illinois Housing Development Authority, to deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2018 at Loyola’s Quinlan School of Business. Her commencement address and biography follow: COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS Good Morning Loyola University Quinlan School of Business graduates! Doesn’t that sound nice? “Loyola University Quinlan School of Business Graduate”. Let that roll through your mind and savor it for a moment, and …

Ascending to the rank of brigadier general, John Fascia spent the bulk of his illustrious 30-year career in the National Guard keeping the peace during riots and responding to major disasters. John Fascia was born in Chicago and lived in the Italian neighborhood of Lexington Street and Kedzie Avenue for several years until the family moved near Homan Avenue and Roosevelt Road. His father, Leonard Fascia, immigrated from San Marco la Catola when he was 16 years old, and his mother, Antoinette Riccio, was born in Chicago. He has one sister. Most of his mother’s large family lived within a …

  A team leader at Boston College, Sam Apuzzo netted one of her sport’s top honors while only a junior. Sam Apuzzo, a junior at Boston College, was this year’s recipient of the prestigious Tewaaraton Award, given annually to the most outstanding American male and female college lacrosse players. Apuzzo is the first female player from Boston College to win the award after being a top-five finalist last year. The award ceremony was held May 31 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. Lacrosse is rooted in centuries of Native American tradition and “Tewaaraton” …

  Passionate about opera in general and lesser known Italian works in particular, Emanuele Andrizzi has set his sights on launching the Midwest’s first opera festival. Conductor, composer and pianist Dr. Emanuele Andrizzi caps his emails with the declaration of another Italian artist, World War I-era writer Gabriele D’Annunzio: “Ama il tuo sogno se pur ti tormenta,” or “Love your dream even though it torments you.” It’s a refreshing tonic to the somewhat mushy 21st-Century mantra “do what you love.” And it defines Andrizzi’s steady path toward artistic mastery. Grit and persistence characterize Andrizzi, who started learning his craft, honing …

  Ascending to the rank of major general, Mike Milano spent the latter part of a stellar 33-year career in the Army overseeing the training and deployment of hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers and allied police. The oldest of four children, James M. “Mike” Milano was born in Detroit to Bartholomew J. Milano and Patricia Ann Donlon. By the time Milano graduated from Holy Cross High School in Delran, New Jersey, the family had moved 10 times, coast to coast. His father was born and raised in Chicago, and his family emigrated from a town near Milan, Italy. Milano …

  Dr. Rosella Spadoni ascended to the presidency of the Arcolian Dental Arts Society on April 24 at RoccoVino’s in Elk Grove Village. Dr. Spadoni is a founding and principal doctor at South Barrington Dental. Joining her as Arcolian officers are President-Elect Dr. Katina Spadoni, Vice President Dr. Chuck DiFranco Jr., Secretary Dr. Paul E. DiFranco, Treasurer Dr. Derek Fornelli, and Dinner/Speaker Chair Dr. Mary Teresa Lima. Bios and profiles follow. Dr. Rosella Spadoni (President) Dr. Rosella Spadoni received her bachelor of science in 1980 from Loyola University of Chicago. She completed her graduate studies and obtained her D.D.S. degree …

  Hooked on synchronized swimming after witnessing a team workout at the local YMCA, Ruby Remati has battled her way to the top of the sport in America. When someone says “synchronized swimming,” do you picture ladies with flowered caps moving languidly through the water? You better not, says Ruby Remati, the 2017 U.S. national champion in the solo and figures categories. “It’s an extremely demanding sport, and it requires a lot of hours of training,” the 15-year-old says. “There are some people who look at is as a stereotype, but there are also a lot of people who find …

  An officer in the Army for 20 years, Lorenzo Fiorentino was in charge of anti-terrorism at a base in Kabul that housed the Three Star General Command. The youngest of four children, Lorenzo Fiorentino was born in Casteldaccia, Sicily, to Pietro and Rosalia (Canale). His father became ill and could no longer work the farm, and in 1972, the family immigrated to Chicago, where they lived with Rosalia’s sister and her family. His mother supported them as a seamstress until his father recovered and began working in a factory. Fiorentino grew up near Pulaski Road and North Avenue and …

    Arriving in Hollywood in 1979 to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, Leo Grillo’s life was transformed by a dream of a completely different sort. The majestic creature came to Leo Grillo in dream after dream after dream. Not that those visions meshed exactly with his occupational dream at the time. It was 1979, and Grillo, the new kid in town, was working hard to get his Hollywood career off the ground. Then came a plot twist straight out of Tinseltown. For no specific reason, Grillo embarked on a road trip to Bakersfield, some 100 miles north …

Too young to join the Signal Corps, Tony Vaccaro defied his superiors and spirited a $47 camera into the teeth of battle, taking some of the most gripping photos of World War II while charting the course of his professional life. Huddled alongside his fellow infantrymen in a transport speeding across the English Channel, Private First Class Tony Vaccaro didn’t know he was headed to Omaha Beach on June 18, 1944, a little more than a week after the D-Day invasion had commenced. Before boarding the ship, Vaccaro’s superiors sternly warned the American soldiers that anyone caught taking pictures would …