Robert Viscusi, a professor emeritus who also served as the executive officer of the Wolfe Institute for the Humanities from 1980 to 2016, died on Sunday, January 19, after a battle with cancer. Viscusi, who taught in the English Department, co-founded the Italian American Writers Association in 1991 and was known as a great advocate of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at Queens College (CUNY). He published widely, including a collection of sonnets, Ellis Island (Bordighera Press, 2012), Astoria: A Novel (Guernica Editions, 1995) which won a 1996 American Book Award, and a critical magnum opus, Buried Caesars and Other Secrets of Italian American Writing (SUNY Press, 2006). He earned a bachelor’s degree from Fordham College, a master’s degree from Cornell University, and a doctorate from New York University.
