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Nicholas Salerno Obituary
beloved friend and teacher, died peacefully early March 15. He was a stalwart of the ASU English Department for 33 years, where he served as chairman for 10 years before retiring as an emeritus professor in 1991. Nick is well known in the Valley for his many contributions to Arizona arts, literature and film appreciation. He particularly relished creating and hosting Cinema Classics for PBS locally. The program paired classic movies with Nick's own interviews of the stars and technical wizards who made them. The show, which ran for more than a decade, was considered by many to be Saturday night appointment television of the first order. Partnering with Dan Harkins, Nick also launched Critics' Choice at Harkins Camelview Theatre, providing Valley film lovers with early "spread the word" viewings of quality independent and foreign films. His mother, father and sister predeceased him. He is remembered by many devoted friends and students throughout the world and by numerous cousins in Italy. A memorial service will be at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 7655 E Main St, Scottsdale on Wed March 23 at 10 AM followed by a procession to graveside services at St. Francis Cemetery, 2033 N 48th St in Phoenix. Contributions in his name may be made to: Roscoe Animal Retreat, P.O. Box 432, Roscoe, IL 61073. The office phone number for the retreat is (815) 871-0317.
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Memories and Condolences
for Nicholas Salerno
Brad Rogers
March 12, 2025
Nick is still missed and admired!
Brad James Rogers
March 12, 2024
I just read through several of the memories that people had of Nick Salerno; he touched a lot of lives. As teacher, mentor, friend and of course "Mr. Cinema Classics" on public television, Nick will always be in my memory as a nice person who cared.
Darlene Rogers Reinke
August 28, 2021
In 1958 Nick Salerno taught freshman English for the first time at ASU. He was excited to show us all how it would enrich our lives. We could almost breathe his sincerity. Fast forward to the final exam.
I rechecked all my answers and only pondered the meaning of the "fire or ice" question. Everyone had turned in their papers and he started correcting them. He made many corrections then rubbed his eyes.
I handed him my test and he smiled. He knew I would do well. He signed my request to skip the second semester English requirement.
In gratitude, I took a one credit survey course from him. It averaged 1200 pages of the most difficult reading every week on all subjects.
I learned about his character, respect for education, and ability to point the way.
I´m sure all those books influenced me but I don´t remember them. I do remember the one answer that I got wrong on that long ago test. Does the world (or I) end in fire or ice? I´m still working on that one.
Some teachers never quit.
Brad Rogers
March 12, 2021
Whenever I see a classic film on TV, I would often think of how Nick Salerno would critique the film's production values or the story editing. I just saw, (March 2021), an early 1980's Rob Lowe film on television the other day and I remembered Nick telling me he recently interviewed a very young Rob Lowe a few weeks earlier back in 1988 when I was on the ASU campus.
Mary Rogers
March 12, 2020
Nice guy, teacher and mentor to the faculty at Arizona State University.
Sherry Gorey
February 18, 2020
Just today I learned of Prof. Salerno's passing as I went through some old papers and found a letter from him sent in 1977. I had been a student of his History and Art In Film as well as a participant in his student film review group. He acknowledged that although he didn't know all his students by name, he thanked me for attending his class and participating in the review group. I looked him up online.
His class was a favorite of mine, and like thousands of others in the Phoenix area and beyond, I faithfully watched as he hosted a weekly movie classic. He was one of those professors whose words of wisdom leave lasting impressions, perhaps not recognized by us at the time, and we later understand our good fortune in having guidance in life by an educator who was one of a kind.
Richard Sederstrom
March 12, 2019
Nick Salerno, my oldest friend, now partly gone else-when,
remains my teacher, my conscience, and my second dearest critic.
Together we will still maintain
a place in the cosmos of stories to fit it all in
and then some.
Its still the story that counts. Always.
Even for those of us who choose to stay
in the rock-strewn outlands
above Tempe or Dorset or far Wessex
munching the simple joys of jujubes and popcorn,
the penny groundlings and our subterranean genius.
We vagabond wag-tongues are the interlocutors
between the gods and their mortal masters.
To remain human without story
is to resign our souls to politics and hapless faith.
Alone, I will maintain that Nick is just over my shoulder and ready
to pick an argument over all that. We share a place in the cosmos:
always will.
Richard Sederstrom
Brad Rogers
March 12, 2019
It was early in my college publishing career in 1987 when I was in Nick's office at Arizona State. Nick had just heard some very good news regarding one of his faculty members. He was very proud not only for her accomplishment but also for ASU.
Rita Dove had just won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. A huge honor and Nick was very proud that one of his colleagues was being awarded. Even though I was relatively new to the publishing world, I knew this was quite an accomplishment. A very select few are even considered for this award; much less earn this great honor.
Nick was very excited when he told me this and suggested I drop in say hello to Rita Dove. I walked down the hall and at first went into my sale rep routine when I first saw Rita. After a few moments, I casually said, "Dr. Nick Salerno just shared with me some very good news. Congratulations Rita, I hear you have won the Pulitzer for Poetry. That is huge/fantastic news!"
I believe Rita had just heard the news only minutes before I entered her office and she was still on cloud 9. It was a very good day for her, Nick and me to be in the presence of a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Brad J. Rogers
Brad Rogers
August 8, 2018
I moved away from the Phoenix area in 1989; but every now and then i would give Nick a call to see how he was doing. I feel embarrased that i did not call back sooner-- I missed calling him by over two years.
My first exposure to Nick Salerno was on Channel 8's cinema classics. As a teenager, I loved his commentary and the "inside" information he had on films. He knew how and why a film was made; who was offered the leading role "first" ; what actors hated each other but still had to work with each other, and the actors that had the huge egos--and those that did not. Nick was as entertaining as the film itself.
Professionally, the first time i worked with Nick was in 1985 when I was a college publishing representative. Nick was pleasant, polite and always had time for me. It was interesting for me calling on Nick, since i had this "celebrity" in my presence. I guess I sort of "hero worshipped" him, since he was Mr. Cinema Classics.
Nick even got me out of jam at ASU. I was young and put my foot in my mouth without realizing it. Nick, talked with the other party and smoothed things over.
Sort of a shock finding that he has passed. Nick will be missed for a long time. Nick was a nice person.
David Chapman
July 15, 2017
I first met Nick at ASU when I was a grad student in the 1970s, and we stayed in touch over the years. As a student I was inspired by Nick; as a friend I was heartened by his warmth; as a mourner I am saddened by his passing. Quando penso a te, mio caro amico, ciò che era perduto è ritrovato, e ogni dolore ha fine.
Maureen and Raphael Poran
October 25, 2016
Nick our dear friend... We have been trying to contact you for some months and now understand the silence. You always signed your messages "Remember me in your smiles and wine" and so we shall. We shall never forget your kindness.
Virginia Hyde
September 22, 2016
My dear mentor, teacher, colleague, and friend, I lament your passing. Dr. Salerno helped me, as teacher and advisor at Arizona State University, to gain national scholarships enabling me to attain my Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin and then to teach English literature for nearly 40 years at Washington State University. We were in touch over the years and he was a constant inspiration to me. (My mother Hazel Crosswhite also loved his teaching and, though she too has passed, I know she would want me to mention her appreciation.) His classic movie TV interviews and films defined an era of TV watching for me and many others. I did not know of his last illness, and I hope he receives these words I write with affectionate and abiding memories: Go with God, Nick: Vaya con Dios.
Paul Murphy
August 8, 2016
"And gladly would he learn and gladly teach." That was you, Nick, but it could never be me. I'll always remember so many good times.
Marie Bulzomi Samson
April 10, 2016
It is with great sadness that I have learned of Nick's passing. He and his family were a much loved part of our family for many years. He is at peace now and in heaven with his sister, mother and father. So glad we were able to have a reunion with him awhile back.
Nancy Honomichl (Bulzomi)
April 10, 2016
Our family just found out about Nick's passing. Needless to say we are all saddened by this news. Nick was part of our family, not blood related but as close as you can get. His Mother, Lucia was the only grandmother we all knew. His sister Fran was godmother to several of our family and Nick himself was our brother Rick's godfather. We have so many precious memories of our time with Nick, Fran and Grandma Salerno. Many visits to Scottsdale and them coming to Tucson. 64 years of love and great times together. We will miss you Nick.
Nick & Diane c. 1975
Diane (Hawkey) Connelly
April 7, 2016
Everyone knew of Nick's love of Elizabeth Taylor. After his death, I realized he died on the same day that Elizabeth Taylor married (for the first time) the great love of her life, Richard Burton. I think Nick would have been amused by the synchronicity.
I will forever miss you Nick, but also will be forever grateful that we shared a friendship for 43 years. You will always be in my heart, my dear anam cara.
Richard Sederstrom
March 31, 2016
Note to the Office of Interpretation
For Nick Salerno, magister ludi
I am delivering the enclosed ideas to you,
four of them so far, maybe five.
I anticipate that each of the ideas
is connected to the other three, or four.
I will not bore you trying to explain the connection
even if I thought myself worthy to do so.
Besides, each idea will explain at least part
of one or more or all of the other ideas.
The first idea is the trillium
alone under a dying aspen.
The second idea is that morning in April that rose
like a yellow cactus blossom over the bay in Guaymas.
The third idea is a knot in a pine wall, the one just above
the homely lamp made of a cholla skeleton.
The fourth idea is what we just saw run out of
the screen door letting it slam, as usual.
One idea can never stand alone, so you say.
But if one idea must be supported
by at least one other idea, in their mutual support
they may speak only to one another, like poet to poet,
player to player, soul to soul.
And finally to anyone outside cloister or workshop
welcome to a sense of new ideas. Inside scholastic cryptophilia,
whatever is is only another pebble to kneel on, to prove
the breathless scruples of the lapidary imagination.
But outside! Ah.
Yes, there is a fifth idea.
Just there. And there as well. That multiplace world,
everywhere you and I have spoken.
Richard
frater humilis
Hugh Judd
March 29, 2016
Nick was one of the two or three most influential people in my life. I had him in three freshman English courses at Stanford in 1960-1961. I had little confidence that I could succeed in my studies, but NIck befriended me and gave me the support I needed to do well. We kept in very occasional touch over the years, separated by some distance. When I learned how ill he was late last year, I planned a trip to visit him and did so in late January. We had an extraordinary visit for two days. I'm so glad I saw him then, and am so sad now that this great man has left us.
Rita Dove
March 27, 2016
When I taught at ASU in the eighties, Nick was a constant source of delight and optimism. One of my favorite memories also proved to be a lesson for life. When the Pulitzer Prize announcements were made in 1987, I had an unlisted number, so the first person the reporters reached was my department chair, Nick Salerno. Nick called me at home, exclaiming, You got the Pulitzer! I blurted out, No! and Nick countered with Yes!, and we went back and forth for a few more times it finally sank in. Then Nick said he would organize a press conference for 3 o'clock that afternoon; and when I wailed, But I don't know how to do a press conference! Nick replied, You'll learn, and hung up. How true.
With Nick in ASU's Creative Writing abode when my husband and I visited in 2012; also pictured: Karla Elling, Cynthia Hogue and Alberto Rios.
Rita Dove
March 27, 2016
Nick, my daughter Aviva and I, ca. 1985
Rita Dove
March 27, 2016
My daughter Aviva on Nick's desk in the ASU English Dept., 1986
Rita Dove
March 27, 2016
My daughter Aviva on Nick's desk in the ASU English Dept., 1986
Rita Dove
March 27, 2016
Scottsdale, October 2012
Fred Viebahn
March 27, 2016
So many good memories of Nick when Rita and I were members of the English dept. faculty from 1981-89! Our daughter Aviva (born in 1983) "experienced" her first movies as in infant cuddled in a pouch on my chest during those marvelous Critics Choice movie nights Nick organized at Harkins Camelview Theatre. Once our daughter was old enough to burst into his open-door office , he always kept a little jar of M&Ms on his desk for her to raid. And when Aviva joined the ASU faculty herself in 2012, we made a point of looking him up when we visited her (see photo).
Giusy Giulio Filippo e Nicola
March 27, 2016
Ti ricorderemo sempre con affetto, non dimenticheremo mai la gioia dei giorni trascorsi con te a New York e Scottsdale . WE WILL MISS YOU NICK!
Carolyn Sigler
March 24, 2016
I took 2 of Nick's film classes at ASU and enjoyed them so much. He was a classic teacher who knew the subject and enjoyed sharing his knowledge with his students. Rest in Peace.
March 24, 2016
Il tuo ricordo rimarrà sempre in noi. Liliana,Salvatore,Giorgio,Sonia e Giuseppe
Jan and Glenn Irvin
March 23, 2016
We have many fond memories of Nick, as far back as our years as graduate students in the English Department at ASU. Nick was an inspiring teacher who brought his knowledge and love of literature into the classroom. He also shared his enthusiasm with students outside of class. We recall many wonderful evenings when Nick would invite students to view classical films, and then discuss them over food and wine. Memories of his intellect, warmth and good humor live on. Ciao, Nick!
March 22, 2016
I was Nick's high school classmate from 1949 to graduation in 1953. He was always considered one of the bright ones at PUHS and later on in the field of academia. I admired Nick's attitude toward life and considered him a good example of "good people". Ralph Ochoa PUHS '53
March 22, 2016
Nick was my classmate at Phoenix Union High School from 1949 to graduation in 1953. He was considered to be one of the bright ones of the entire school and continued being one of the bright ones of the entire academic system. I admired Nick's attitude and I will always consider him a good example of "good people". Ralph Ochoa PUHS '53
Janice Russell
March 21, 2016
I watched Cinema Classics regularly and had the opportunity to take a his film class at Metro Center in 1980. He will always be one of my favorite people. Absolutely brilliant and kind-hearted as well. I was always in awe of him.
March 20, 2016
We remember Nick from Phoenix Union. He was very smart then. To his family, remember the good times. We will all meet again someday.
Jimmie & Barbara James
March 20, 2016
Now you can meet all those wonderful people on the screen who fascinated you for so long. I shall miss your penny Valentines. God bless you, Dr. Salerno. You were a gift.
Ariel Waterman
C L
March 19, 2016
Please accept my condolences on the loss of Nicholas. May his memory comfort your heart; and God help your family during this time of sorrow. Isa.41:13
kelly ludlum
March 19, 2016
My love of old movies was cultivated by this man. Thank you for the gift of art appreciation.
Angela Giuseppe
March 19, 2016
So che ci amerai anche da lassù e amerai anche Prizzi il tuo caro paesello siciliano.Rimmarrai per semre con noi. Angela Giuseppe con Fabio e Annalisa
Vicki Ratliff
March 18, 2016
You will be missed by many, dear Nick.
Tommie Taylor
March 18, 2016
A fan of Cinema Classics
Kristen LaRue-Sandler
March 18, 2016
I knew Nick as a strong presence in the ASU Dept. of English even after his retirement. His mentees and colleagues there never forgot his brilliance and his many kindnesses. He will be missed.
Patricia Myers
March 18, 2016
An exceptional man, professionally and personally, who shared his great gift of film with many through the decades on the TV show and in person. He will be remembered and missed by many.
Lawrence J Bowman
March 18, 2016
I never knew Nick Salerno personally, but I knew people who studied under him. I also fondly remember his Saturday night program, "Cinema Classics," on channel 8. He augmented my love for old movies. I particularly remembered how surprised he was about all the reactions to his showing of the Bette Davis/Paul Henreid romance, "Now, Voyager." In about 2002 I ran into Mr. Salerno at a breakfast place in Scottsdale and commented to him about that. He was surprised I would remember that. It's one of my most favorite romantic movies. The night before Mr. Salerno died, I watched "Summer of '42," a 1971 film that has a scene where the teenage hero goes to a movie theater and sees that movie. I am sure I thought of Mr. Salerno then.
Sharon Ratliff
March 18, 2016
We feel so blessed to have known Nick. He was so passionate about the Arts. His compassion and generosity will remain within our hearts for eternity. We will cherish his gifts of movie and literary classics that he so lovingly hand delivered to both of my children. Their lives, as the lives of so many of his students and colleagues, will forever be enriched by just knowing him.
Sharon Ratliff
March 18, 2016
There are no goodbyes for us.
Wherever you are, you
will always be in my heart.
~ Gandhi
I feel so lucky that I was blessed to know Nick. He had such a beautiful and compassionate heart. My children were also blessed by his generous and thoughtful gifts of movies and literary classics. He was so passionate about the Arts. We will love and miss him forever.
Michele StGeorge
March 18, 2016
I will always remember Nick Salerno as one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I have ever met, as well as being one of the most brilliant.
Louis Martinez
March 18, 2016
Professor Salerno was an important presence at Arizona State and in the Valley cultural scene. Rest in Peace. Condolences to his friends and loved ones.
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