Literary Las Vegas: Louis C. Vaccaro
“Around the Corner: From Shoeshine Boy to College President” tells the true tale of Louis C. Vaccaro. The son of second-generation Italian immigrants was born in Los Angeles in 1930. From early childhood, he picked up odd jobs to help support his family. Vaccaro’s father always said, “You don’t work, you don’t eat!” And Vaccaro took it to heart. Rising from those humble beginnings, he went on to serve as president of six colleges and universities, most recently The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. He has built international student programs at colleges in the United States, and now in his 80s, he continues to teach and consult in China. When he isn’t in China, Vaccaro and his wife, Linda, divide their time between homes in Las Vegas and Albany.
Excerpt from “Around the Corner: From Shoeshine Boy to College President”
Papa was indeed one tough hombre. As I have told countless people, family and friends alike, Papa’s influence shaped me in ways that I was totally unaware of during those years of demanding work assignments — always tinged with a high degree of tension, respect and fear. The lessons I learned: the value of work, respect, responsibility, fidelity to family and the proper way to approach work and life were drilled into my psyche from my earliest years and remain with me to this day.
Because I did a maximum of listening and observing and a minimum of talking, my verbal skills were lacking. In fact, from day one in kindergarten until I was on my own in the Air Force, I was plagued with a speech impediment — stuttering. It was while in the service, being interviewed for pilots’ candidate school that I realized the root cause of my stuttering was the result of my apprehensive and fearful response I had to my father’s overpowering personality. Once away from his influence, and following months of self-analysis, I realized I could speak in a normal cadence without stuttering.
My habit of listening and observing served me well in other areas as well. I learned my father was a great storyteller with dozens of humorous and comic stories that he undoubtedly picked up in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh from his Italian immigrant pals and chums: “Cowboy” DeLuca, “Frankie” Bove, “Kelly” Napilitano and “Sandwich” Palumbo. The East Liberty section in Pittsburgh was 100 percent Italian, sectioned off from the Polish, Irish and Negro sections of the Steel City.