On Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 6 p.m. at the Staten Island Hilton Garden Inn’s Nicotra Ballroom, the Wagner College DaVinci Society will hold its 13th annual scholarship dinner.
The DaVinci Society is led by Chairman Ralph J. Lamberti, 12th borough president of Staten Island, and Honorary Co-Chairman Richard Guarasci, president of Wagner College. Eleanor Conforti, former chairwoman of Community School Board 31 and a Staten Island Advance Woman of Achievement, is the chairwoman for the annual dinner.
Tickets for the fundraising dinner are $150. For information and reservations, please contact Betty McComiskey at Wagner College, (718) 420-4014 or specialevents@wagner.edu. To purchase tickets with a credit card, please use the following secure link — https://alumniconnect.wagner.edu/2016davincisocietydinner
Community Service Awards
- Stephanie Famulari ’04
- Lucy Ferreri
- Rosario A. “Roy” Iraci
- Peter Maniscalco
- James Oddo
- Ed Wiseman
Renaissance Award
- Amar Malla
Lifetime Achievement Award
- Warren Procci ’68
Stephanie Famulari is a practicing podiatrist on Staten Island. A 2004 graduate of Wagner College, she earned her doctorate from the New York College of Podiatric Medicine in 2009. She is the podiatric physician at Eger Nursing Home, New Vanderbilt Rehabilitation Center and Harbor House Assisted Living.
Her work as a volunteer in the community is impressive. She gives her time to Camp Good Grief, St. Vincent’s Hospital and Workman’s Circle Nursing Home in the Bronx as well as Bishop Ahern School on Staten Island.
Lucy Ferreri, the proud daughter and granddaughter of Italian immigrants, was born Lucia DiSerafino in Egbertville, Staten Island, the fourth among six siblings. After graduating from New Dorp High School in 1941, she went to work as a draftsman in a Staten Island shipyard building American warships. Following the war, she married Army veteran Joseph Victor Ferreri; the couple raised three sons.
Following her husband’s sudden death in 1980, Ferreri became an active part of the management of White House Enterprises Laundry & Dry Cleaning Supplies, a company founded by her father-in-law and built up by her husband and his brother. Ferreri served as the company’s president until her retirement in 2010.
A devout Roman Catholic, Ferreri has been an active, life-long parishioner of Our Lady Queen of Peace. She advocates for various charities and was active in volunteer work and fund-raising while a member of the Mothers’ Clubs of St. John Villa Academy and the Augustinian Academy. In more recent years, her support of worthy causes was evidenced by her generous contributions to the capital campaigns for a new emergency room at Staten Island University Hospital, a new church for St. Joseph & St. Thomas Parish, and renovations at her home parish.
Rosario A. ‘Roy’ Iraci is a Brooklyn-born, second-generation Italian. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps during the Iran hostage crisis and was discharged with a Good Conduct medal at the rank of sergeant.
Currently a McDonald’s board member, Iraci bought a McDonald’s franchise in 1993 that now includes restaurants in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Jersey City, N.J. He served as the New York franchisee group president from 2006 to 2014.
Iraci supports a number of charitable organizations, including the Ronald McDonald House, McDonald Children’s Charities, Wounded Warriors, the American Cancer Society and the Grace Foundation.
Roy Iraci and his wife Lisa are the parents of daughters Lisa and Ashley.
Certified public accountant Peter Maniscalco is the principal of Maniscalco & Picone, CPAs. Since 2002, he has been an active member of the board of trustees of Eger Lutheran Homes and Services. He is also a board member at the Richmond County Country Club, where he serves as treasurer, and has given his time to many other charitable organizations over the years.
Peter Maniscalco and his wife Sarah have been married for 40 years. They have three children and four grandchildren.
James Oddo, the 15th borough president of Staten Island, was elected to that office in November 2013. He had previously served, since 1999, as a New York City councilman representing the 50th district. He also served as the New York City Council’s minority leader from 2002 to 2013. Oddo was responsible for turning the abandoned Farm Colony site into a senior citizen community.
As borough president, he has focused on securing aid for Staten Islanders affected by Hurricane Sandy. He is also committed to bringing a waterfront development project on Staten Island’s North Shore to reality.
In 2008, Ed Wiseman became the executive director of Historic Richmond Town, which was founded as the Staten Island Historical Society in 1856. He tripled museum attendance, created large-scale events and reconnected his organization with the greater Staten Island community.
A graduate of NYU School of the Arts, Wiseman led his own production company and formed important partnerships with entertainment corporations, winning eight Emmy Awards for directing and producing. He received the prestigious Prix Jeunesse environmental media award. He began his career as an assistant producer for the PBS series, “Reading Rainbow,” and soon became one of the youngest directors in national television. Today, he continues to work on special projects in film and television that make a difference.
Born, raised and educated in India, Amar Malla is a naturalized American citizen who lives in Kew Gardens, Queens, and has excelled in the areas of design, construction and management during his 35 years as an architect. Among his designs are features of the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, and the leopard enclosure and carousel at the Staten Island Zoo. At present, he is a senior project manager in the cultural unit of the New York City Department of Design and Construction.
Amar Malla supervised the construction of three outstanding buildings in New York City: Herald Center, the Nigerian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and a 24-story condominium on Broadway. He has served as executive vice president and chairman of the New York City Society of Indo-American Engineers and Architects.
Warren Procci graduated summa cum laude in 1968 from Wagner College with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He earned his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin, where he completed his residency in psychiatry. He holds a diploma from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Procci has served on the Wagner College Board of Trustees since 1999, where he presently chairs the executive committee. In addition to his private practice, Procci’s career includes a 42-year history of scholarship and service at both L.A. County/USC Medical Center and Harbor/UCLA Medical Center. He continues to teach and supervise psychiatric interns and residents at both of these major university teaching hospitals. He is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he has also done research and been a division director in residency education. Procci has also been president and dean of training at the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute, and from 2002 to 2012 served in many leadership roles with the American Psychoanalytic Association, ultimately serving as its president.
