Dr. James V. Quagliano

The Quagliano family takes this opportunity to honor the life of Dr. James V. Quagliano who died on May 12, 2005. Jim was born on November 9, 1915 in Brooklyn, N.Y. to Giovanni and Giustina Quagliano, immigrants from Naples, Italy. Giovanni was a stableman for the City of New York; the Quagliano family had 10 children, with Jim's younger sister, Anne Quagliano of Queens, N.Y. as the sole surviving sibling. After graduating from Boys High in 1933, Jim went on for his undergraduate and master's degree in chemistry at Brooklyn Polytechnic, graduating in 1940. Jim's first teaching assignment was as instructor of chemistry at Villanova College from 1940 to 1943. Jim's love of chemistry and teaching inspired him to continue his studies at the University of Illinois, where he received his doctorate degree in inorganic chemistry in 1946. After receiving his Ph.D., he held teaching positions at the University of Notre Dame (Associate Professor, 1948-1958), Florida State University (Professor, 1958-1975), Auburn University (Hudson Professor of Chemistry, 1975-80), and the College of William and Mary (Visiting Professor, 1980-1981). After retirement, he taught freshman chemistry classes at Virginia Commonwealth University. For over 50 years, his unassuming teaching approach and sheer fascination with chemistry inspired students to love a subject that they had previously feared; he became known affectionately - and simply - as "Dr. Q." Jim was the recipient of numerous awards and honors during his distinguished academic career, including the Award of Honor of the University of Notre Dame (1965), the Fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1972), and the Florida Section Award of the American Chemical Society (1975). Jim received two Fulbright Fellowships, one at Bologna, Italy (1956), and one at Rome, Italy (1966). He was an international leader in the field of coordination chemistry, authored over 70 original scientific articles, and shared his knowledge through numerous presentations at national and international conferences. He was also an innovative teacher, including his development of the "unit basis" method of chemical calculation. He wrote two college level textbooks: "Chemistry" (3 editions, 1958, 1963, and 1969, translated into Italian, Brazilian and Japanese) and "Coordination Chemistry" (1969), as well as a high school level text: "Chemistry - A Humanistic Approach" (1975). For several of the books and articles, his wife, Lidia, worked with Jim as coauthor. In 1960, Jim met Lidia M. Vallarino, another inorganic chemist from Milano, Italy. He was fond of joking that when he first met his wife, "she didn't even have shoes on her feet". (Jim and Lidia had met on the beach in Varazze, Italy!) A year later, in 1961, they married. Despite the joke, Jim was a faithful and fiercely loyal husband. A man ahead of his time, he supported Lidia's career as a chemist during a time when only a handful of women were chemistry professors in the U.S. After 44 years of being partners in life and partners in work, Jim would still honor Lidia with a fresh cut rose and dinner out. Despite a lifetime of professional success and a lifelong marriage, Jim's greatest pride and joy were his children, John, Peter, and Mary, who called him "Pop" or "Poppy" (by Mary and friends). The eldest, John is a Ph.D. chemist. Peter is a medical doctor, and Mary is an attorney. All three children were deeply attached to their Pop and were grateful to have lived with the guidance of such a caring and wise father. Upon the arrival of the grandchildren, Jimmy, Grace, and Michael, Jim's children were content to be "replaced" as the pride and joy of his life. There could be no more loving Grandpa than our Pop. Underlying all of Jim's life was his steadfast, yet quiet, devotion to God and the Catholic Church. Just as Jim was a pillar of strength to all who knew him, so was the Church a beacon to Jim, a beacon to which he now returns. Jim is remembered by his family and many friends as an intelligent, generous, unassuming and loving person, quick with a smile (and coin set), a joke (told many times over), and a line from an old song (preferably Frank Sinatra). Sincerely devoted to his family and friends, he was a man who enjoyed life, especially time spent simply sitting and talking, preferably with a good Italian meal to share. It can truly be said that he lived a wonderful and productive life. To our Jim and Pop, wearer of hats, discoverer and lover of coins, joke- and story-teller, singer of Italian ballads, we say: "Rest in peace, we will sorely miss you, but our memories of you bring us great joy and your stories will live with us forever."