Lifetime Ties in Waterbury Boost UConn

From the UConn Foundation's e-newsletter, Our Moment (August-September 2011)

From left: Al Avitabile, Leonard
Insogna and Martin DeSommaItalian immigrants flocked to the Town Plot section of Waterbury in the late 1800s through the early 1900s, and steady work was found in what denizens called ‘the shops,” otherwise known as the manufacturing mills that fueled Waterbury’s renowned brass industry. The children of those immigrants assumed they, too, would work in the mills when they were old enough.

Then Leonard Insogna moved in.

He was a Columbia University graduate, a World War II veteran, and a native of Waterbury. He and his wife Mildred rented the second floor of a two-story home owned by the Avitabile family, and soon after, a young, impressionable Al Avitabile began bringing Martin Desomma and other friends around to hear the educated man share his life lessons.

As the boys grew into men, their aspirations grew with them, encouraged by Insogna and his insistence that education was the key to understanding. They began excelling in school, applied to college, and eventually became professionals. “We knew less than less before we met Leonard,” Avitabile said. “But then Leonard graduated from Columbia, and Town Plot changed when he moved in.”

Says DeSomma, “We were working-class Catholic kids, uninformed. Leonard used to take us up to his apartment and his wife would give us coffee and cake and he would tell us what was really happening in the world. Leonard put us straight.”

And they are grateful. On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Avitabile and DeSomma sat by the older man’s side in a second-floor conference room at the UConn–Waterbury campus to deliver accolades and honors. More formally, DeSomma, now a prominent dentist in the Waterbury area, announced a $100,000 gift to establish the Leonard and Mildred Insogna and Al Avitabile Scholarship, one of the largest gifts by an individual donor to the Waterbury campus.

“This guy and this guy,” DeSomma said, pointing to Insogna and Avitabile, “were extremely important to my success. I had good fortune as a dentist, and I’m 76 and still working because I love it.”

The connections between the UConn Waterbury campus and the three men kept on coming: Insogna sent his four children to UConn, one of whom graduated from UConn’s medical school, and one from UConn’s dental school. Insogna was also an adjunct instructor in economics at the old Hillside campus. Avitabile was Waterbury campus director from 1980 to 1989. DeSomma met the woman who would become his wife, Dorothy Bessette, on campus while both were involved in student government. Together, the couple established a Waterbury campus scholarship some years ago that assists students with significant financial need.

Two Waterbury-campus recipients of DeSomma’s philanthropy attended the event, Lucien LaFreniere, a U.S. Marine Corps Iraq-Afghanistan veteran and rising senior who is a double major in history and American studies, and Himank Gupta, newly graduated from UConn and headed to the UConn dental school.

“The money Dr. DeSomma gave me helped with my tuition and books, and meeting him made me consider dentistry,” Gupta said. “So last summer I applied, and during the winter I found I was in. It was the happiest day of my life. I really hope to become a good dentist like Dr. DeSomma.” The philanthropy for the Waterbury campus continues, with the need as high as ever. Bill Pizzuto, now campus director at Waterbury told stories of witnessing students at the bookstore deciding not to take a course because they couldn’t afford the textbook. “It isn’t what people think, that these kids have all this money,” he said. “It’s just not the case.”

Said LeFreniere, ““These scholarships help people whose main mission in life is to help others.”

Just like Leonard Insogna. “My four children graduated from UConn, and they owe their success to that,” Insogna said. “This scholarship, and my name on a plaque on this campus, brings a pleasure I can’t express. It is akin to immortality. I’m happy with the result, and it’s nice to know I contributed to the well-being of a few people.”

To support UConn's Waterbury Campus, please contact the UConn Foundation's development department or make a gift online.