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 Speers native shifts gears into early retirement... By Ron Paglia, For The Tribune-Review, April 16, 2006 At an age when many people are heading into the home stretch of their careers or considering a change in professions, Joseph R. Scaccia is retired. But that doesn't mean he's slowing down. "I realize how lucky I am to get to retire at 48," said Scaccia, a native of Speers now living in Pasadena, Calif. "My dad retired from Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel in Allenport when he was 58 and they were beginning to close some parts of that facility. He has loved every day of his retirement, now going on 25 years, and I think I am a chip off the old block." Scaccia, a 1975 graduate of Charleroi Area High School, is the son of Joseph A. and Wande E. Scaccia, of Speers Hill. His sister, Wanda M. Schiller, is associate general counsel for the Amerada Hess oil company in New Jersey. Scaccia's path to a distinguished business career and early retirement began when he was a senior at the University of Notre Dame in 1979. "E&J Gallo Winery interviewed on campus and offered me a starting position with their sales team in Los Angeles," he recalled. "After 10 months in sales, I moved to Modesto as a marketing assistant. Gallo was a great business experience. I learned from some of the best in the wine industry and got to present to Ernest and Julio Gallo on a weekly basis. These two gentlemen, more than any others, are credited with building the wine industry in the United States into the multibillion business it is today." After three years with Gallo, Scaccia wanted to pursue a master's degree in business administration and return to Los Angeles. He interviewed and landed a job with Lawry's Foods, "famous for their seasonings and marinades," as an assistant brand manager. "At the same time, I enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Southern California," Scaccia said. "I was fortunate to be awarded a dean's scholarship that offered full tuition reimbursement for my studies. I earned my MBA by attending evening classes while working for Lawry's during the day." During the next 24 years, Scaccia took on various marketing assignments within Lawry's and rose to the position of director of marketing. Lawry's is a fully owned division of Unilever, the global marketer brands including Lipton, Wisk detergent,Thermasilk hair products, Q Tips, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.. "The list goes on," Scaccia said. "Unilever is a $40 billion company with home offices in both Amsterdam and London. While with Lawry's, I had the opportunity to visit and work in Europe and all over the United States." After a long and successful stint of maintaining Lawry's as an independent operation, Unilever decided to fold the company into the U.S. headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., at the end of 2005. Scaccia was offered the opportunity of joining the team in New Jersey but chose to retire and stay in Southern California instead. He said going to Notre Dame, where he earned a bachelor's degree in marketing and graduated cum laude in 1979, "proved to be one of the best experiences" of his life. "I really knew relatively little about the school until I was accepted there and went to the university totally naive about the culture and spirit of the place," Scaccia said. "It was truly the best four years of my life. I met people from all over the country and formed friendships that will last forever. The school has a remarkable esprit de corps and the professors, students and staff all embody the spirit there. I try to get back to South Bend with friends for big football weekends or to just visit the campus whenever I can. To me, Notre Dame is one of the most special places on earth." Growing up in the area also provided lasting memories for Scaccia. "I had lots of great role models there," he said. "Certainly my parents are first and foremost. Some of my teachers at Charleroi Area High, especially Mrs. Jean (Anderson) Drop, of Monessen, who taught Spanish and was one of our class sponsors, were role models as well. There were others, but Mrs. Anderson stands out for always challenging us to learn and to get out and see and experience the world." Scaccia was not involved in varsity sports at CHS but he enjoyed street hockey, tennis, touch football, softball and any number of other sports with high school friends. "We had such a great group of kids, all basically the same age and going through everything from kindergarten to grade school and high school at the same time," Scaccia recalled. "Danny Watson, Jeff Jones, Nancy Bello, Cindy Robbins, Kim Huri, Doug Sphar, Kathy Grandy, and Joyce Kime, among others, and I grew up together. We rode the school bus together for years and graduated together in 1975. I remember great summer evenings playing hide and seek and other games and later hanging out at Speers Park for a game of basketball or volleyball or just sitting in one of the pavilions and talking. Speers Hill seemed to be the perfect place for a kid to grow up in the late '60s and early '70s." Family also was and continues to be a big part of Scaccia's life. "Some of my fondest memories of growing up in Speers and Charleroi center around the small-town atmosphere and the friendly people," he said. "I used to enjoy walking or riding my bike from Speers down through Charleroi, and I remember when McKean and Fallowfield avenues were filled with stores and restaurants. My aunts and uncles and cousins all lived in the Charleroi area and we always got together in Charleroi for birthdays, holidays and any reason to celebrate." While Scaccia still has many relatives in Charleroi, some are "getting older and others have passed away." "My favorite uncle, Nino (Anthony) Scaccia passed away at the age of 84 recently," he said. "I do try to keep in touch, at least through phone calls and Christmas cards, with most of my relatives and I try to visit them when I get back to the Valley. I did make it to a couple of class reunions but unfortunately could not get back for our 30th last summer." Scaccia's career in marketing surfaces when he talks about Pasadena. "It's a great old city of about 135,000," he said. "It was developed at the turn of the last century as a vacation spot and was actually one of L.A.'s first suburbs," he said. "Today, it is a very historic city with tree-lined streets and plenty of its own culture, including the Norton Simon Museum, the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl." Having been retired for only a few months, Scaccia is looking to do some consulting work in the future. For now, however, he is "totally enjoying" a new routine that allows for long walks in the morning, a second cup of coffee with the L.A. Times and "a whole lot more time to spend in the sun doing yard work, hiking, biking" and other activities. He also recently began volunteering his time at a local homeless shelter, where he works in the kitchen and helps with the morning meal. "I especially like walking Oso, my 6-year-old pup," Scaccia said. "He's a beautiful 48-pound lab-retriever mix with golden eyes and coat. When people ask me what kind of dog he is, I usually say, 'a good one.'" | John Woodward, '77 | Andrea Todora, '74 | James R. Moon, '73 | David Mudrick & Cindy Colvin, '74 | George Braunegg, '75 | Bob Burns, '76 | Bill Woytovich, '73 | Michael 'Reed' Popovich, '74 | Karen A. Theys, '74 | Keith Spear, '74 | Vicki DuJordan, '71 | Leslie Kibler, '77 | Valerie Marraccini, '76 & Dennis J. Stitch, '78 | Janey Potts, '75 | Joseph R. Scaccia, '75 | Cheryl Deep, '74 | Mark Mascara, '74 | Jeff Kossol, '71 | Philip J. Kellman, '72 | Sheri Monack, '75 | | TEACHERS/STAFF | THE 40's and PRIOR | THE 50's | THE 60's | THE 70's | THE 80's | THE 90's | THE NEW MILLENNIUM! | | Return Home | 'Contact Us'... Submit Profile & UPDATES | Class Directory | Reunions (Includes Possible ALL 60's Reunion) | Where Are They Now? / Where They Were | Photo Gallery | TOWN TALK | Sports! | SCHOLASTICS | |
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