Nicholas A. Panuzio, a former mayor of Bridgeport, Dorothy Larson. A community leader in Easton, and Walter Baum, a prominent Norwalk businessman were among the five new trustees elected to the University of Bridgeport’s Board of Trustees on Sept. 12.The others elected are Pierre Tardy, president of the Christian Bernard Stores, and Frank I. Grow III, an international executive and corporate director of a major Spanish language newspaper.
Grow was elected to a term that will run through 2005; Mrs. Larson, Panuzio and Tardy, to terms running through 2006, and Baum, to 2007.
Panuzio is the principal in Panuzio and Giordano Public Affairs, a national consulting firm based in Alexandria, Va., and Panuzio Business Strategies, a firm specializing in business brokering, consulting and marketing. He has been in public service, or public affairs, for nearly all of his adult life.
Panuzio began his career with the University of Bridgeport when he first started classes in 1953. He worked at UB as a student and then joined the staff, serving in a number of administrative positions. His career changed when he won election to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1968, A few years later he was elected mayor of Bridgeport, serving there from 1971 through 1975, when President Gerald Ford appointed him U.S. commissioner of public buildings for the General Services Administration. He later led his own consulting and lobbying firm before becoming chairman and CEO of Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, one of the premier public affairs companies in the nation. At the time, Panuzio served on planning groups for Presidents Reagan and Bush. In the mid-’90s, established his own company, creating and developing The Management Link (TML) that linked companies across the nation in business services.
Panuzio, who was chairman of the UB Board of Trustees in the late 1980s, has also served on the National Historic Preservation Commission, the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities and the National Capital Planning Commission. He is a recognized national expert on urban policy. He has his Bachelor of Science degree from UB in industrial relations and personnel management and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from UB.
An active University of Bridgeport Board of Trustee member from 1971 to 1987, Mrs. Larson became a life trustee in 1987. Mrs. Larson and her husband Gilbert were the driving force behind the founding this year of the Easton Community Center where young people can relax and meet with friends. Mrs. Larson has been a long-time supporter of UB and its athletic teams and was honored by the university with a 75th anniversary medal, presented at the “Scandinavian Holiday” hosted by the Larsons and President Neil and Rebecca Salonen last December.