Alpha Epsilon Lambda

Nargis and I will miss our dear friend, Juan Vitali who passed away on February 19.

Juan and I met in 1986 as graduate students at University of Florida. A year or so later we ended up sharing a house. We spent so much time together working on campus projects and student politics that we figured that it just made sense to turn a house into the UF subversive HQ. In that place we organized a long list of incredibly interesting and consequential projects, many of which continue at UF to this day.

Juan did so much at UF that it is simply impossible to recount it all. To have so much intelligence and integrity in an assertive organizing powerhouse like Juan is incredibly rare. He inspired all those around him to do all they could, and then more. One year he earned our house the honor of hosting John Lombardi for the traditional UF President’s dinner with students. Juan cooked. As if the list of things Juan was good at wasn’t already long enough, Juan was a great Italian chef.

And then there was another story when Juan went on a trip to Rome, Italy. Unfortunately, the Gainesville airport sent his bags to Rome, Georgia. But while Juan was away, our undergraduate housemate, Ilya Solarev, newly arrived from the Soviet Union, tried to roll Juan’s car out of the carport to wash it. Since no good deed goes unpunished, Juan’s open door caught a bush and wrenched towards the front bumper. Upon his return, Juan took it in stride. But I will never forget Ilya’s misery at having had good intentions end badly.

After college Juan and I continued to be friends and teamed up to manage the national graduate student honor society. Juan’s career led him to the Pentagon and then the White House. But he remained the most sincere, caring person you ever met. Like my other DC friends, Juan and his wife Katie would always offer me a place to stay during trips to the area. It was always a pleasure spending time with them.

During a 2022 visit to DC at the peak of cherry blossom season, Juan and I shared breakfast with Richard Grosso at an outdoor place in DuPont Circle, after which we walked the neighborhood on that beautiful spring morning. I dropped Juan off for a White House meeting. When I picked him up a few hours later he had with him a bag of White House swag, including a shirt for my daughter, Amina. Nargis loves that shirt and the opportunity it gave her for some fun photos.

Nargis and I both cherish Juan’s memory. We extend our sincerest condolences to his wife Katie.

Katie was amazing at the memorial mass on March 15. It was a solemn event but followed by a joyous celebration of Juan's life at the church reception and the gathering at their home. Juan was such a fortunate man to have found Katie. He always knew it and openly expressed this love.

At the church reception, I was drawn to one table among the dozen or more, where two fellows were seated. Turned out that of the 60 or more people in the room, they were the only two others from Juan's UF student days, neither of whom I could have possibly recognized. Fate or guiding hand? Other special friends & colleagues of Juan's joined us for a most moving set of conversations of the past and of those things yet to come from Juan's life and endeavors.

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Link to the Campus Climate Corps channel on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPrIeiEJmFRLPTC8ZhlNoiA

Watch the Campus Climate Corps Conference live on YouTube from 11am to 3pm on Sunday, October 31.

YouTube viewing is an easy alternative to registering in advance to join the Zoom meeting. Registration for the Zoom meeting is at www.CampusClimateCorps.org.

Campus Climate Corps program is jointly administered by Alpha Epsilon Lambda and Intelligentsia International.

What should really scare you this Halloween? Climate Change!

University students and community members are invited to participate in a virtual conference being held Sunday, October 31 at 11am-3pm on Zoom. UF graduate student Rock Aboujaoude will speak live from the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. A wide range of other speakers will be featured. The half-day conference is followed by daily briefings at 7pm from the UN COP26.

The UF Agricultural Economics Club (Amanda Heinzmann, President) stepped up to join with Campus Climate Corps in hosting this event. You can register to be part of this Zoom event at www.CampusClimateCorps.org.

To learn more about the virtual conference and the UN conference in Scotland, check out the UF Florida Independent Alligator article at https://www.alligator.org/article/2021/10/uf-climate-conference

Sponsors of the virtual conference include Alpha Epsilon Lambda (the national graduate student honor society), UF-IFAS CALS Office of the Dean, Solar Impact (Gainesville solar energy company), and the Florida Climate Institute.

Campus Climate Corps Campus Climate Corps (CCC) is a joint effort of university student volunteers working with Florida-based non-profit organizations Intelligentsia International and Alpha Epsilon Lambda to help U.S. student organizations address the issue of climate change.