A Flash at Close Range

by J. Forrest Pike

Robert Pagliarulo, CAD '85, ALM '92

To many alumni(ae) who attend Harvard Extension Alumni Association events, he is a camera lens and flash at close range. Others see a man with wild gray hair and a couple of canvas bags who enthusiastically contributes to the question-and-answer portion of HEAA lectures. For the few who know his name and his history, Robert Pagliarulo, CAD '85, ALM '92, is a lifelong student, a challenging conversationalist, and a man devoted to the communities he inhabits.

Pagliarulo's education began at Longfellow School in Roslindale, Massachusetts. In sixth grade, when he asked about applying to Boston Latin School, his Longfellow teacher dissuaded him--"He said that I wasn't smart enough." So Pagliarulo attended Washington Irving School for three years before applying to and receiving an acceptance letter from Boston Latin. After graduation, Pagliarulo attended Boston College. Though he initially considered becoming a teacher, he chose physics as his major and earned a BS in 1955.

After graduation, and until retirement in 1993, Pagliarulo applied his physics training in laboratories in the private and public sectors--the last 33 years at Hanscom Air Force Base. Because, as he says, "in those days, you picked a field and stuck with it." He worked on radiation shields for proposed nuclear-powered aircraft, polymer chemistry, meteorologic equipment design, ionospheric physics, and electromagnetics.

At Hanscom, Pagliarulo learned about the Extension School from an Air Force lieutenant. He started taking classes to, in his own words, "get educated." Getting educated included, for Pagliarulo, courses in math, electronics, language, and the humanities. But it all began with Elementary Russian, taught by Dr. Bayara Aroutunova in Harvard Hall. The tuition for such a course in 1962 was $10 plus a $10 registration fee--the price of two bushels of wheat. In 2000, Pagliarulo audited his last class--microbiology. During his 30 years of taking Extension School courses, he earned a Certificate of Advanced Study in humanities (1985) and an Masters of Liberal Arts in classical civilizations (1992).

Photography became one of Pagliarulo's major interests in 1978. With a borrowed camera, he recorded a family trip to the Western part of the US. Later, he moved beyond photographing his children's little league and soccer games to photographing other activities in which he participated. At an Extension School reception, he noted that no one took photographs, so he decided to fill that need. At subsequent events, Pagliarulo gave prints to the people photographed. In 1999, he began working with Division of Continuing Education staff photographer Jeffry Pike to photograph both HEAA events and Harvard Commencement. His pictures regularly appear in the Alumni Bulletin.

When asked about his apparent comfort when putting a camera in a person's face, Pagliarulo explained that his confidence came from childhood. Being the eighth of 13 siblings, he was in the position where both those older and those younger than he "didn't want to hear" from him. "So later in life, when people expected me to speak up, I was ready," he said. (Pagliarulo will always express his opinions in conversation; and he is a devoted letter writer and questioner of lecturers, politicians, and administrators of institutions.)

Today, three things fill Pagliarulo's days: playing bridge, working in his garden, and caring for his grandchildren. In 1986, he became bridge master no. 40,000. He keeps his game sharp with regular play and periodic competitions. The garden fills his backyard. He can list the many types and number of each plant that grows within his fence; his neighbors know the range, too, from the bouquets that Pagliarulo delivers to them. As for his grandchildren, he nonchalantly notes that "with my upbringing, I was [parenting] children even before I got married." Although seemingly not a doting grandparent, Pagliarulo easily devotes energy, time, and love to his children and their children.

To many he'll remain a camera lens and flash at close range, however to Extension School alumni(ae), instructors, and staff who know him, Robert Pagliarulo is a man whose curiosity, intelligence, and passion have carried him into a rich life.