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March 28, 2006
ANDOVER, Mass. — Vincent Pascucci, emeritus teacher of Latin, classical Greek, and Italian at Andover for 37 years, died at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen on Sunday, March 26 of complications from a stroke suffered ten days before. Six years ago, Pascucci survived and beat the odds against a stroke, going on to live fully and tutor Latin and Greek students up to four weeks prior to his death. He retired from Phillips Academy in 2001.
A memorial service will be held in Cochran Chapel on Saturday, April 22 at 1 p.m.
A resident for several years of Marland Place, an assisted-living facility in Andover, he had recently been a patient at Wingate, a nursing home, also in Andover. “He had a passion for languages, history, music, literature, and teaching,” said Dr. Richard Keller, the school physician. “If ever Andover had a Mr. Chips, he would fit the bill.”
A recipient of an Honorary Degree from Georgetown University for the art of his teaching, a Fulbright Scholar in Rome, and a proud alumnus of Columbia and Brown, Pascucci quoted Latin, Greek and Italian on a daily basis. He was also a visiting professor at Dartmouth College and taught in the respected Dartmouth Language Institute Program, founded on the Rassias Method of learning for adult speakers.
Pascucci developed the first college-level course in Italian at Andover, a senior elective that was consistently oversubscribed. He incorporated opera, film, cultural understanding, and travel into the course to make it one of the most influential experiences in the lives of alumni who later visited Italy.
Pascucci was chairman of the World Languages Department at Andover during the school’s transition from an all-male school to a co-educational institution, and during this period he enjoyed the camaraderie of headmaster Ted Sizer, who on occasion dispatched Pascucci to resolve various diplomatic issues in the school’s Study Abroad programs. He also coached tennis and annually taught the senior class to sing “Gaudeamus Igitur” in time for their commencement ceremonies.
He is survived by two children, Scott ’76 of Malibu, California, and Victoria Aloiau, of Reno, Nevada; a sister, Norma Austin of Yonkers, N.Y; a brother Louis of Reno, Nevada; two grandsons Aiden and Dillon Pascucci; many nieces and nephews; and his friend and companion, Patricia Maroni, of Cambridge, Mass., who wrote in an e-mail, “He loved Pearson Hall, the Roman fountain outside his window, and the energy that was created in that classroom during 37 years of artful teaching.”
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