Mr. Rodolfo O. Paraoan

Rodolfo (Rudy) Paraoan, 63, died Friday evening on June 17, 2011, at Tampa General Hospital. Born in Batac, Illocos Norte, Philippines, he immigrated to Chicago, IL before moving to Tampa, FL in 1977 with his wife, who he married in Toronto, Canada that same year. He received a scholarship to the University of the Philippines before transferring to Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila. He received his Civil Engineering degree from Mapua Institute of Techology in Manila, Phil. and completed his Master of Science in Civil Engineering degree from University of South Florida in 1994. Rudy has worked with Reynold Smith & Hills, Paulus Sokolowski & Sartor, Whitehouse Engineers, and Master Consulting Engineers as a Senior Associate Professional Engineer. He designed and inspected numerous structural projects within the Tampa Bay area and throughout Florida. This includes MOSI, multiple USF campus buildings, Tampa and Orlando International Airports, Key West bell tower, and many others. He loved traveling the world with his wife, visiting many countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland. His weekends were spent tending to his garden of vegetables in the backyard, with many nap breaks in between. He loved running and participating in the Gasparilla Distance Classic yearly and inspired his wife to do the same. They started running the 5K and eventually started training for 15Ks together. He lovingly left behind his wife of 34 years, Lorna, who is a Medical Technologist at Tampa General Hospital for 28 years, and his two daughters, Dyna & Hazel. He raised his daughters to be self sufficient and independent. Dyna is a Physician Assistant living in Charlotte, NC and Hazel is a Professional Engineer living in Los Angeles, CA. Also left behind is his grand-dog, Ginger, with whom he enjoyed long walks together in his neighborhood.