Michael F. Biancardi

Died peacefully Tuesday September 13, 2005 at Hebron Oaks Nursing Home, Oakwood Village Retirement Community in Madison, Wisconsin. He was 88. A dedicated husband, father, grandfather, safety engineering professional, church member, and active retiree, he will be missed by family and friends. Mike was born June 3, 1917 in Boston, Massachusetts to recently arrived Italian immigrants Nicola Biancardi and Nicolina DeMartino Biancardi. During his Boston boyhood he was an excellent student and helped in his father's butcher shop. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S. Mechanical Engineering, class of 1940, and moved to Milwaukee to work for the Allis Chalmers Corporation. Mike and Marjorie Duescher were married in St. Sebastian's Catholic Church in Milwaukee on July 29, 1944 and remained married until separated by death. They raised three children and enjoyed travel and winters in the Hill Country of Texas later in life. Mike remained with Allis Chalmers through 1969, serving as Manager of Safety and Health and, later, as Corporate Manager of Employee and Product Safety, Security and Workers Compensation, and all Safety Services. He became Director of Product Safety for Wausau Insurance Companies in Wausau, Wisconsin in 1969 and remained there in various capacities until his retirement in 1980. Mike was a registered professional engineer and certified safety professional active in development and advancement of his profession. Among his professional activities and honors, he was a Fellow and Past President of the American Society of Safety Engineers, Secretary-Treasurer and member of the national Board of Certified Safety Professionals, a member of the National Safety Council and officer of several of its divisions and boards, and past president of the Wisconsin Council of Safety. He supported his alma mater, MIT, throughout his adult life, interviewing and assessing applicants for admission. He received MIT's George B. Morgan Award for outstanding accomplishments and service in 1989. He was an active member of St. James Catholic Church in Wausau, and participated in business retiree organizations, including Golden K (Kiwanis) and SCORE. He belonged to the Wausau Curling Club and the Wausau Italian Men's Club. Mike suffered from dementia the last three years of his life and moved with Marjorie in late 2003 to Oakwood Village Retirement Community in Madison, near two of his children, where excellent care for his declining health was available. He was preceded in death by his elder brother Jack. He is survived by his wife Marjorie; children Stephen Biancardi of Madison, John Biancardi (Jennifer) of Houston and New Braunfels, Texas, and Lynne Biancardi Judd (Roth) of Madison, a granddaughter, Olivia Biancardi Judd of Madison, a sister, Josephine Christo, of Boston, Massachusetts, his brother's wife, Rita Biancardi of Milwaukee, and several nephews. A memorial mass will be held on Monday September 19 at 11 AM in Resurrection Chapel at Oakwood Village, 6201 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI 53705. Friends may call prior to the service beginning at 10 AM. Burial will be private at Forest Cemetery in Birnamwood, Wisconsin. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to The Oakwood Foundation at the above address.