Albert Natale Pascola

On December 13, 1926, Albert Natale Pascola (Al) was born to Joseph and Pierina Pascola in Dover Plains, NY – the youngest of three children. Raised by Italian immigrants, he learned the importance of family, hard work, and education. Most of all he knew that family, friends, and food are the staples of life and he lived that every day.

During WWII, at 18 years old, he enlisted in the Navy becoming a Radioman Third Class on the USS Noble – a transport ship serving the Pacific during the war. He came to learn morse code and often spoke of his experiences aboard the ship.

Once he returned from the war in 1946, he was interested in going to university but not sure how best to proceed. A close friend took his application to Georgia Tech and thus began the journey to a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Class of ’54) and a long and successful career at Sperry Gyroscope in Lake Success, New York.

While at Georgia Tech, he found many ways to keep busy, joining the Sigma Nu Fraternity, as well as becoming an active member of the Interfraternity Council. It was while he was at Tech, that he met our mother, Mickey Rudisill, at a football game. The rest is history, as they say. Together, they traveled the world, and lived in more than seven states, as well as Germany. Dad’s career brought him to settle on Long Island - Hicksville, NY - in 1961. He finally sold his home this past March and moved to California.

Throughout our childhood, our father’s career at Sperry involved working with Project Apollo, specifically with a team on a portion of the inertial navigation system. Having worked for many years in the Engineering field, he decided to pursue a marketing career at Sperry and worked towards an MBA degree while working and traveling extensively.

Even after retiring from Sperry in 1991, Dad continued to work well into his 90’s and he found many volunteer opportunities as an ombudsman for local nursing homes, with golf tournaments on Long Island, as well as becoming a poll worker on election day. Never one to sit idle, he loved reading, gardening (tomatoes were his specialty even this past year), golfing, and traveling, and was a huge car enthusiast, all while taking care of our mother until her passing in 2006. Our Mom remained a steadfast sounding board for Dad, and he relied on her advice and counsel.

After raising 3 daughters who were his pride and joy, as well as a source of consternation, he very proudly became a grandfather to his three grandsons, Nicholas Albert, Joseph Alan, and Alexander Paul. Truly a bright spot in his life, he always stood a bit taller holding them as babies and as he watched them grow into the wonderful humans who carry on his legacy.

Albert is survived by his three daughters, Michele Milton, Alison Pascola, and June Vinci, his three son-in-laws, Clive Milton, John Razzano, and Alan Vinci, his three grandsons, Nick, Joe and Alex, and, of course, his grandog, Lily, who kept him smiling every day!

We are all grateful for his 97 years of service, storytelling, Dad-jokes, and love. In lieu of flowers, please honor Albert’s request for donations to:

Veterans of Foreign Wars (Veterans of Foreign Wars)

Georgia Tech Scholarship fund: https://mygeorgiatech.gatech.edu/giving/special