06/16/09

SAL CASCONE (Ocean, NJ)

 After leaving St. Peters I attended S .I. Community College majoring in Accounting. After a year and a half of financial struggles, I decided to enter the work world full time.  I began my work life at a very small public accounting firm where I was given the opportunity to work in every aspect of the firm, from inventories to audits to tax filings. After a year on the job I realized that Uncle Sam was not very far away.  Unfortunately my employers also recognized the same thing and my growth at the firm came to a standstill.  I spent another year and a half at the firm when the Army called. In May of 1965 I entered the US Army and after basic training I was sent to X-Ray School and became an X-Ray Technician.  I did additional training at Letterman Hospital in San Francisco, and then I was assigned to the Army Burn Center in San Antonio Texas. I got married in January 1967 and I completed my service career in May, 1967.

In June of 1967 I went to work at the Marine Hospital (USPH) on Bay Street as an X-Ray technician.  About two months after I went to work at Marine, I received a call from a recruiter who was looking for a young accountant to work in the construction industry.  I jumped at the chance and took a position with John Gallin & Son, a well respected contractor in NYC.  I spent 9 years at Gallin and at the same time went to Pace University at night and completed my degree in Public Accounting. Since my goal was to be an auditor, I knew I had to leave Gallin and find a much larger company.  I found one in Pullman Kellogg.  I was the NYC Controller for one of their divisions that constructed refineries.  At Pullman my education expanded by leaps and bounds. We were in a world wide business and problems occurred daily, but it was fun and the experience was priceless. In 1978 Turner Construction Company was looking for an auditor who had actual day to day experience in the construction industry.  Luckily I got the position and within one year was promoted to Senior Internal Auditor.  It was not long before I found myself involved in investigations of internal fraud and misuse of company assets.  I also was assigned to law suits of major consequence.  I was now traveling all the time, but it was no longer a job.  It was serious stuff but it never felt like work.  (It still does not).  In 1982 I spent the entire first 8 months of the year on the road.  I had an apartment in Atlanta and a family in NJ.  In August my wife asked me to get off the road and come home.  In September of 1982 she found out that she had terminal cancer.  She entered a program at John Hopkins in Baltimore, and luckily Turner needed me to spend a lot of time in Washington, DC.  In April of 1984, Jane died.  Turner had assigned me to cover and supervise accounting site personnel in 3 states.  I soon found this impossible since I had three small children at home.  Turner and I came to an agreement and I left in October, 1984. 

I spent the next three years selling real estate in Monmouth County, NJ.  While this was a fun job, I wanted to get back to auditing.  In 1987 I joined Paramount Group, a real estate development company as a construction controller and auditor.  At PGI I again hit the road because most of their holdings were in California.   At PGI we had auditors in every discipline of construction and we audited every single project from beginning to end.  We were also supported 100% by management.  While spending the summer of 1990 in Los Angeles I met my wife.  We were finally married in August of 2003.  In 1992 PGI was told to downsize by its parent company in Germany.  50% of the staff was let go and I was among them.  However, PGI had a connection at Macy’s, and they were looking for a construction auditor.  My career at Macy’s was very short.  As an auditor I never had so many findings.  That is all I wish to say. In 1994, I joined Met Life as a Project Controller and Auditor of a $400 million project. I did both internal and external audits.  We audited suppliers, contractors, consultants.  It was a meaningful 6 years, but since I was not a CPA, when the project was completed I was transferred to the Capital Projects Division.  There I managed actual construction projects and had the chance to yell at Project Accountants for a change.  Since Met was drastically downsizing, I decided to leave when I had the chance,

In December of 2000 I joined Max Capital, another real estate development company in NYC.  At Max I worked with their contractors and their lenders.  It was not exciting.  I left Max on good terms, and in the fall of 2002 I joined Kroll Associates. Kroll is the largest security and risk management company in the world.  I am an Associate Director in The Real Estate Integrity Group.  We monitor construction projects for our clients and we also audit some of these projects.  However, our major activity is investigations of various types of wrong doings.  Kroll investigates computer fraud, internal embezzlement, money laundering, among others.  We also provide background checks of individuals and companies.  As you can guess, my area is construction and real estate. I can not say any more than this because Kroll does not reveal its clients or what they do for their clients. Ed. Note: On April 23, 2004 Sal returned to SP with ten of our classmates to share his talents with the senior class in the Class of 1961 Career Day Program. 

Joe Damitz (West Caldwell, NJ) 

This alumni work you started is really awesome. All these e-mails that have been going back and forth have brought back many good memories of people, places, and events. Thanks for your hard work and perseverance. In addition to my work e-mail address, my home e-mail address is Joseph_Damitz@msn.com. My mother still lives on Staten Island so I still visit the Island fairly often. Currently, I do plan to attend the Career Day in April. Here is my biography. 

After graduation, I attended the University of Notre Dame and have a BSME degree. In 1965, I began working for Chemplant Designs until May,1966 when I was drafted into the Army and served until May, 1968. Thanks to Matt Dowd, I was introduced to my future wife and the love of my life Corinne Ryan (St. Peter's '61) at the Hofbrau. We were married  in 1967 and after leaving the Army, moved to West Caldwell, New Jersey where we still reside. We have two children, Lynn Ann and Kevin. Both are graduates of the University of Notre Dame. Lynn Ann is a Plastic Surgeon at the University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill, NC and Kevin is the Director of Religious Education for St Thomas More Parish in Allentown, PA. Lynn Ann is single and Kevin is the father of our 4 grandchildren and one more due in February, 2004. Corinne has been teaching for over 25 years at Trinity Academy in the resource room.  In June, 1968 I joined Ebasco Services, a Utility Consultant which provided engineering and construction services.   My work involved designing, modifying, and the start up of nuclear power plants which has continued for over 35 years. In 1993, I was in our offices on the 87th Floor of 2 World trade Center when the bomb went off. Some people witnessed my 15 minutes of fame when my name flashed on Channel 2 News as they interviewed me on the phone. It took us 1 hour to walk down the 87 flights in the dark. Our offices have since moved to Princeton, NJ but unfortunately we had one floor of  168 personnel that remained on the 91st floor of 2 WTC and on 9/11 we lost 13 of our employees.   Our Company name has changed to Raytheon Engineers and Constructors and now Washington Group International. Currently, I am the Project Manager for the Oyster Creek and Indian Point Power Stations. At Indian Point I interface with John Ventosa('80) Manager of Operations.  It has been a long and rewarding career. Within the next few years Corinne and I hope to retire to Wilmington, NC. I hope to see you and some of our other classmates soon. Thanks again for doing this. Ed. Note: On April 23, 2004 Joe returned to SP with ten of our classmates to share his talents with the senior class in the Class of 1961 Career Day Program. 

ED DOWASCHINSKI (Hilton Head, SC.)

 After graduating from St. Peter's I attended Fordham University and graduated with a BS in Accounting. I then went to work for Arthur Young & Co. (now Ernst & Young) in New York. I left AY to become the controller of a large operator of dry-cleaning stores and a commercial laundry
(Johnny-on-the-Spot) company in Scarsdale, NY. In 1970, I joined Goldman, Sachs & Co. tax department where I later became a vice-president in charge of the department. I resigned from GS in 1980 to pursue other business interests, moving to Hilton Head Island in 1981. Presently, I am the CFO of the Heritage Classic Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. While
on Hilton Head I have pursued several other activities, including practicing as a CPA, organizing and operating a NASD member firm, and acting as a security principal for three other special purpose securities dealers. My wife and I have three sons, a daughter-in-law, and two grand daughters. Two of our sons live in San Francisco. One son lives here on Hilton Head Island. In short, we have had a good life.

 TOM HARKINS (Malvern, PA.)

 I left Staten Island for engineering at General Motors Institute in Michigan in September 1961. Returned to Staten Island in May of 1962 still not knowing how to spell engineering.  (My way of saying I realized that engineering was not my forte.) I entered Bernard Baruch School of Business at CCNY, downtown campus, and pursued my Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Found my niche. I joined the Management Training Group at First National Bank of Jersey City in 1966, and enjoyed the world of high finance. Married my high school sweetheart, Mary Ann Fieramosca, and was blessed with our first born in 1967, Theresa Ann. Promotions continued at the Bank, and babies continued at the home front. Deborah Lee arrived in 1969. We made a joint decision to move out of the New York City area to raise our children in relative safety and quiet. We live in Malvern, PA, a western suburb of Philadelphia, and have been here since February, 1972 and never regretted the move for even one nanosecond. I started out in Banking right after College and switched careers at age 28 to Sales.  I took a sales position with a local firm in Paoli, PA and rose to Sales Manager. In 1974, I moved to a large National Company in the sales Division and became the local Branch Manager. A position I held till May 1, 2003 at which time I retired from gainful employment. Mary Ann and I are the very proud grandparents to four grandchildren (each of our daughters has a son and a daughter of her own.) We spend our time bouncing back and forth visiting them. Terry still lives in Pennsylvania, actually 10 minutes from our house, and Deborah resides in Sarasota, Florida. We now have a very good excuse for being snow birds. My wife and both daughters envy my education by the Brothers, and often wished they could have had the same opportunity that this great Community of servants gave to me. I am deeply grateful to all the Brothers I had from the sixth grade up through our Senior year. They taught me how to learn.