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Rnnie Carazzai with sign under consruction (Photo by Ken Grayson) |
Ever since he came to the University in 1958, electrician Renato ("Ronnie") Carazzai has enjoyed the ups and downs of his job -- the climbing ups and downs.
In June 1959, at age 22, Carazzai took on his first Reunions-related job: helping make and mount the numerical signs that designate class headquarters. This was a task that involved scrambling up and down and in and out of a variety of campus structures. He got such a kick out of the work that he formulated his long-range career goal: to make, hang and "enjoy the sight of" the Year 2000 sign.
"The guys in the shop laughed at me when I told them about my dream. I was just a kid. No one could imagine working for the University that long -- or living that long, for that matter," Carazzai said.
70 orange bulbs
No longer a kid but father of four grown children, Carazzai recently achieved the goal he set for himself 40 years ago. He assembled the Year 2000 sign, installing 70 light sockets, wiring the apparatus and painting it a glossy bright orange, and he hung it on Nassau Hall as part of the town-gown celebration Curtain Calls held on the last evening of 1999. Thousands of people, including Carazzai and Margaret, his wife of 40 years, were thrilled by the sight of the illuminated Nassau Hall, with his sign as the centerpiece, glowing with 70 orange bulbs.
"Best of all," Carazzai said, "I get to do an encore."
In preparation for Reunions, he will mount the year 2000 sign on Nassau Hall again, this time to honor the graduating class.
Carazzai thrives on going to great heights for his job -- something much appreciated by coworkers who may be spared such high-flying tasks. When he positions the 2000 sign on Nassau Hall for Commencement, above the tent that shelters the podium, he will have to hang from the roof, with the assistance of a safety belt and a colleague holding his feet.
When Nassau Hall was rewired in 1976, Carazzai did a lot of climbing in the bell tower and was rewarded by finding a piece of historic railroad tie used in lieu of beams. He made paperweights out of the railroad tie and presented one to President Shapiro on the occasion of the University's Bicenquinquagenary Celebration.
45 years of photography
Though Carazzai is famous among coworkers for his aerial maneuvers, he is also known to the campus community for a more grounded activity -- photography. Inspired 45 years ago by the Princeton High School Photography Club, he spends much of his free time taking pictures of the campus landscape in all seasons. At 1:30 am on January 1, he stood on the Front Campus and took a picture of his 2000 sign.
The quick reflexes needed for climbing and photographic adventures have stood Carazzai in good stead in other aspects of his job. Assigned to assist filmmaker Gerardo Puglia in the creation of the 250th anniversary movie, Princeton, Images of a University, Carazzai helped manage a photo shoot that involved a live tiger in the Faculty Room of Nassau Hall. When Dorothy Bedford, executive director of the 250th celebration, entered the room with her baby, Carazzai says he noticed a "glint" in the tiger's eye and quickly shifted mother and child out of harm's way as the tiger started to move in the baby's direction.
Carazzai's only plans for the future are to keep going onward and, of course, upward. So far, he has said nothing about making the Year 3000 sign, but no one who knows him would rule it out.
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