NORWICH RECORD | Summer 2021

Joe Luzzi ’64 was meant to be an engineer. “It’s how your brain is wired,” he says. “If I had a watch, I’d take it apart.” He was 15 when he bought his first car—minus the engine. He sourced one in a junkyard, took it apart, put it back together. And when he got his driver’s license? “I had a car ready to go. That’s the mindset of an engineer.”

It’s a mindset he shared with his two brothers, John ’63 and Jim ’69. Inspired by their father’s career in construction, all three studied engineering at Norwich.

After graduation, the brothers also commissioned as engineers in the U.S. Army. John ’63, the eldest, and Joe served in Vietnam. All three built businesses in engineering and construction, Joe and Jim ’69 as licensed professional engineers.

To honor the trio, the Luzzi Brothers Engineering Scholarship was established in their name last year with a contribution from an anonymous donor. It provides tuition assistance for engineering students in the Corps of Cadets on the basis of financial need.

Now the sole surviving Luzzi brother, Joe (pictured) is also a donor to the scholarship. He credits his Norwich education for his success in business and in life. “I never had to take a back seat to any engineer I came across in all my time in engineering,” he says.

Devon Donahue says her father John Luzzi “would be so excited about this scholarship.”

“He loved Norwich,” she says. “He would be honored to know that recipients of this scholarship would be able to achieve the same strong foundation upon which he and his brothers built their lives and careers.”

—Ellen Bartlett