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Obituary for Dr. Americo W Petrocelli

Dr. Americo W  Petrocelli
Dr. Americo W. Petrocelli passed away peacefully on August 12, 2018 at the age of 87.

Born in Providence, RI he was the son of the late John and Concetta Petrocelli. His wife Doris predeceased him in 2014.

Americo will be lovingly remembered by his children and their spouses, Thayer Dietrick, Richard and Susan Petrocelli, Carol-Lynn and Robin Martell, Robert and Carla Petrocelli, along with his grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He will also be missed by his sister-in-law Claire McParlin.

Americo received a Bachelors degree from Providence College in 1954. He then went on to receive a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Rhode Island in 1960. During the cold war years he lead numerous projects at Electric Boat including (then) classified work for the Central Intelligence Agency. He was recruited to be president of the Yardney Electric Company helping to engineer its financial turn around. In 1977 he took a break from corporate life and became Vice President of Business and Finance at the University of Rhode Island. In 1988 he was appointed as the Commissioner for Higher Education for the State of Rhode Island, which led to the development of the RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education now named The College Crusade of RI. In June of 1996 he joined Robert and Richard on the board of Heartlab, Inc. and in 2007 assisted his sons with the formation of their second company GreenBytes. In July 2014, Americo moved to StoneRidge in Mystic, CT where he wrote several books and published poems while also forming the Mystic Geriatrics Institute.

Visiting hours will be in Gaffney-Dolan Funeral Home 59 Spruce Street Westerly, R.I. on Tuesday from 4-7 pm. Funeral Services will be held on Wednesday, August 15, 2018, at 11:30 am in the funeral home. Burial will follow at St. Sebastian Cemetery, Westerly.

The family wishes to thank the staff of Avalon Health Center at StoneRidge and Dr. Michael Feltes for the compassionate care that he received.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The College Crusade of RI, 134 Thurbers Avenue, Providence, RI 02905, https://thecollegecrusade.networkforgood.com, or a charity of your choice, in his memory.

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