Dublin-Worthington News Stories
Member Spotlight: Abramo Ottolenghi
By Paul J. CynkarFriday, April 30, 2021
Advancing the Leadership Mindset
Finding Success in the Success of Others
Paul Cynkar, February, 2021
This is another in a series of member profiles based on interview questions that were designed to help me fulfill the requirements of the Dublin Worthington Rotary Red Badge Program for new Rotarians and get an up close view of the traits and strengths of some of the members who provide leadership to this organization.
Membership Spotlight: Abramo Ottolenghi
Worldly, Wise and Influential
I am in the process of writing my memoir. Unfortunately, with all of the recent distractions, I am stuck in 1964. My goal is to get back to it so I can finish it.
I left Italy in 1939 following the 1938 enactment of anti-Jewish legislation by Mussolini. I could not go to public schools, father lost his university job and other relatives had to give up their businesses. With parents, maternal grandparents and three uncles and one aunt and their families we immigrated to Ecuador where the family, in concert with the Ecuadorean government, created a pharmaceutical laboratory (LIFE).
The trip to Ecuador…We left from Genoa on September 19, 1939 on the steamship Virgilio. I remember my grandmother putting some gold coins into the lining of my topcoat. I later learned that we were allowed to take only (I believe) $ 700 and furniture which travelled in a container.
I attended the American School in Quito. When father transferred to Bogota Colombia I attended Colegio Nueva Granada. In 1947 I came to the US to Aunt Gisella Levi who had a PHD in physics but had to escape from Paris as an au-pair maid with an American couple and Uncle Werner Cahnman who escaped from Germany. I entered Wilmington College in Wilmington Ohio where I graduated with a BS in Biology and Chemistry. After a year of working in the laboratory in Quito I returned to attend Rutgers University where I graduated with a Masters in physiology and biochemistry. After spending a year at Penn I returned to Quito and worked in LIFE for 3 years. Later I returned to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It is there that I met and married Joan (De Nezzo) my beloved wife of sixty three years and obtained a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology. After a postdoctoral work in Philadelphia I came to Ohio State in the Department of Medical Microbiology from which I retired in 1995 with the title of Professor Emeritus.
My family located in Worthington. I was elected three times to the Worthington Board of Education from which I resigned to do a postdoctoral period in Madrid Spain. After retiring I went to teach in Pamplona Spain and with the sponsorship of Rotary International in Santiago Chile.
Ed Lakey, then superintendent of Worthington City Schools, introduced me to Rotary in 1983. For me, the best things have been participating in the international programs in Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. I also led the Group Study Exchange delegation to Argentina.
Finding Success in the Success of Others
Paul Cynkar, February, 2021
This is another in a series of member profiles based on interview questions that were designed to help me fulfill the requirements of the Dublin Worthington Rotary Red Badge Program for new Rotarians and get an up close view of the traits and strengths of some of the members who provide leadership to this organization.
Membership Spotlight: Abramo Ottolenghi
Worldly, Wise and Influential
- Tell me about yourself. Give me three facts that include information about your family, your career, and your pastimes.
I am in the process of writing my memoir. Unfortunately, with all of the recent distractions, I am stuck in 1964. My goal is to get back to it so I can finish it.
I left Italy in 1939 following the 1938 enactment of anti-Jewish legislation by Mussolini. I could not go to public schools, father lost his university job and other relatives had to give up their businesses. With parents, maternal grandparents and three uncles and one aunt and their families we immigrated to Ecuador where the family, in concert with the Ecuadorean government, created a pharmaceutical laboratory (LIFE).
The trip to Ecuador…We left from Genoa on September 19, 1939 on the steamship Virgilio. I remember my grandmother putting some gold coins into the lining of my topcoat. I later learned that we were allowed to take only (I believe) $ 700 and furniture which travelled in a container.
I attended the American School in Quito. When father transferred to Bogota Colombia I attended Colegio Nueva Granada. In 1947 I came to the US to Aunt Gisella Levi who had a PHD in physics but had to escape from Paris as an au-pair maid with an American couple and Uncle Werner Cahnman who escaped from Germany. I entered Wilmington College in Wilmington Ohio where I graduated with a BS in Biology and Chemistry. After a year of working in the laboratory in Quito I returned to attend Rutgers University where I graduated with a Masters in physiology and biochemistry. After spending a year at Penn I returned to Quito and worked in LIFE for 3 years. Later I returned to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It is there that I met and married Joan (De Nezzo) my beloved wife of sixty three years and obtained a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology. After a postdoctoral work in Philadelphia I came to Ohio State in the Department of Medical Microbiology from which I retired in 1995 with the title of Professor Emeritus.
My family located in Worthington. I was elected three times to the Worthington Board of Education from which I resigned to do a postdoctoral period in Madrid Spain. After retiring I went to teach in Pamplona Spain and with the sponsorship of Rotary International in Santiago Chile.
- How long have you belonged to Rotary? What’s the best thing about membership?
Ed Lakey, then superintendent of Worthington City Schools, introduced me to Rotary in 1983. For me, the best things have been participating in the international programs in Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. I also led the Group Study Exchange delegation to Argentina.
- As you look back on your life and your career, where and when did you have the biggest impact on others? Who was impacted and how?
- As you look back, which of the opportunities you had has been the most fulfilling to you personally? Why?
- Describe the most challenging project you have ever worked on. What was your role? What was the result?
- What are some things you are passionate about? What really excites you? What gets your adrenalin flowing? What makes your heart sing?
- What are you especially skilled at? What is something that others often tell you that they think makes you stand out?
- When you have a moment to sit back and think (dream) about your future, what do you think about?
- If you could choose anyone (alive or deceased) to have lunch with, who would it be? Why?
Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt would be at the top of my list. Like I said earlier, I like to talk, so we could fill the time pretty well.