Charles Sclafani

Professor Carlo "Charles" Sclafani, the former long-time Chairperson of Modern Languages at SUNY/Westchester Community College (NY) who transformed Italian language instruction by having students "feel" the language passed away at his retirement hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida, on May 7, 2024. He was 83.

The beloved educator, who had moved to Florida after retiring from WCC in 2014, died peacefully with his family by his side from lymphoma. He is survived by his wife, Emilia, his daughter Dina Sclafani and grandson Ethan, all of West Palm Beach; and his daughter Sandra Sclafani and son-in-law Zsolt Kovacs of Harrison, NY.

Originally from Sciacca, Sicily, Professor Sclafani dedicated his life to teaching and promoting the language, culture and history of his birthland. For over 41 years, he was the guiding force behind the WCC Modern Languages Department and its then-most active club on campus, Il Club Italiano, which he co-founded. He was also renowned as an insightful lecturer, becoming immensely influential in the Westchester County Italian American community where he was unfailingly called upon to speak on Italian and Italian American topics.

Yet, it was his unassuming and caring nature that impacted people most.

"Despite his impressive knowledge and standing, Professor always made you the one to feel important and wanted you to be a part of the conversation," said a family friend. "It's as if we all felt a little 'grander' after just being in his presence-filled with a little more knowledge, a little more culture and a lot more inspiration."

After growing up in Sicily, Carlo came to the United States with his family in 1955 at the age of 14. He later graduated from City College of New York and then received his Master's degree in Italian and Spanish from Rutgers University. During this time, he met the love of his life, Emilia Simeone, whom he married in 1967. Daughters Dina and Sandra soon followed.

While the young academic had embraced his new country and became a proud American, his native Italy was always in his heart and mind.

"If you call yourself American, you owe it to an Italian," he would ardently remind his audiences. This was a reference, of course, to Amerigo Vespucci's naming of America. But it was also a reminder of the Professor's unwavering conviction that regardless of our inherited ethnicities, everyone in the United States shares an affinity with Italy that should be cultivated. From the moment he first set foot on the Valhalla campus as Assistant Professor of Italian Language and Culture in 1971, he embraced his unofficial role as Italy's ambassador to Westchester County with an unmatched fervor that became legendary.

Before Professor's arrival, the traditional approach to learning a foreign language involved primarily memorizing vocabulary and grammar. Worthy pursuits, yes, but for more effective Italian language learning one needed to experience it, feel it, live it. Sclafani began an ambitious program of augmenting traditional class instruction with teaching that took students beyond the classroom. He began to arrange events that would increase the students' motivation to learn Italian and then opened up these events to non-students as well. From Italy's art and music, its food and architecture, its poetry and history, its landscapes and the daily life in its towns and cities-its very spirit and essence-Professor Sclafani wanted you to feel it with the same wonderful, glorious intensity that he did.

And by all accounts, we did.

He introduced us to Italian films like Cinema Paradiso, where we felt what it would be like to yearn for the past and the innocence of childhood. He chartered busses to the NYC Metropolitan Opera House so we could be brought to tears by the desperate and tragic Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata. He showed us the masterful paintings of DaVinci so we could feel the movement and energy of the Renaissance period and the sfumato painting technique that makes Mona Lisa's eyes so memorable. He took us on extended trips to Italy and showed us every single church he could find and then some-but somehow made us feel the same jaw-dropping awe and amazement as if we were viewing the edifice for the very first time. The list goes on and on . . .

Each time, under Professor's tutelage, we wanted to step into the shoes of the creators or artists or actors and feel what they did, and be able to use just the right Italian word to describe what we were feeling because we were so overwhelmed with the joy of discovery. We wanted to tell our family members and friends how Italian, as an older language, has so many more words with exquisitely nuanced shades of meaning so you can be as specific as you want to be about anything you want to say or write. Words that don't carry over the language barrier or that describe traditions that don't exist outside of Italy and how it would be criminal for them to go unused or be lost.

Simply put, learning any foreign language makes you happy because it enables you to communicate with more people, understand their lives better and see things from a new or different perspective.

Professor Sclafani just knew that learning Italian makes you the happiest.

Not everything was as festive and fun for Professor as helping people experience Italy's cultural treasures, however. As an academic administrator, he was instrumental in restoring the study of foreign languages as part of the WCC curriculum and helped place and/or keep the Italian language in several Westchester schools. He also undertook the difficult task of confronting ethnic stereotypes and prejudices against Italians and Italian Americans, which he did with diplomacy and by asserting facts.

But the students always came first.

In addition to being the type of teacher who wanted his students to excel, Professor raised scholarships to the tune of $800,000 to help them pay for that opportunity. Not just his students-any student of the Italian language in Westchester were to be encouraged or better still, commended. For many years, he arranged for the area's high school Italian language students to be honored by the County Executive and Legislative Board as part of the October Italian Heritage and Culture Month celebrations.

The words of his former students ("best teacher I ever had") and colleagues ("one of the College's most legendary figures...he is truly irreplaceable"); the numerous awards he received from Italian American organizations throughout the Metropolitan area; the many accolades bestowed upon him by the College-even the Italian government, who conferred on him the title of Commendatore in 1999-all unequivocally indicate that Professor Carlo Sclafani was a consummate teacher who truly enriched everyone's lives.

Professor Sclafani received numerous awards and honors from groups throughout the New York Metropolitan area for his distinguished service to the Italian community. Some of these are: the Chancellor's Award for Teaching from the Chancellor of the State University of New York (1996); the title of Commendatore by the Italian Government (1999); the Westchester Community College Foundation Medallion Award (2001); the prestigious Joseph and Sophia Abeles Endowed Chair for Italian and Modern Language by Westchester Community College (2002); the New York State Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service (2005); the Distinguished Service Professorship from the State University of New York (2007); an Ambasciatore Award from the Italian American Museum of NYC (2009); Westchester Community College Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award (2011) and the American Association of Teachers of Italian Award (2011).

In addition to serving as full professor and department chair, Sclafani served as president of the Societa Onoraria Italica, the National Italian Honor Society for High School students sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) (1975 to 2012) and co-president of the Westchester Coalition of Italian American Organizations. He was also a long-time member of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America's Antonio Meucci Lodge #213 in White Plains and active in many other professional organizations.

Once retired and living in Florida, the former resident of Cortland Manor and Fishkill never forgot his Westchester roots, continuing to champion Italian causes and provide support for his legacy projects until his health declined.

As dedicated a teacher as Professor Sclafani was, family was paramount, and he relished his roles as a loving husband, father and grandfather. Emilia, whom he adored for her many wonderful qualities, was a fabulous cook for him-worthy of being a chef in one of the best restaurants he always liked to say-and dinnertime was a sacred time to be together and connect with each other. "Tutti a tavola a mangiare!" (Everyone to the table to eat!) he liked to exclaim, metaphorically ringing the nightly dinner bell in anticipation of another delicious meal and another opportunity to instill family values among those present-and perhaps impart another interesting fact (or two).

Indeed, Professor Sclafani truly embodied the sentiment that knowledge is not to be held but to be shared, freely and with pleasure.

For this, we say: Bravissimo for a life lived with passion and integrity, and Grazie, from the bottom of our hearts, for allowing us to share it with you.