About me

I was born and raised in Lockport, New York and graduated from DeSales High School in 1976. Although I knew I wanted to attend college, I didn’t have the finances or a clear idea of what I wanted to do with my life. Instead, I joined the U.S. Navy where I received excellent training in fire control and electronics. I served as a GMT (Gunners Mate Technician) on two different destroyer escort ships; the USS Bowen FF 1079 whose home port was in Charleston, S.C.  and the USS Bradley FF 1041 out of  Long Beach, CA.  Joining the Navy also solved the college finance problem as I was now eligible for the GI Bill. Upon my discharge in 1980 I started attending Niagara County Community College as a full time day student. However, within a year I was hired by AT&T in downtown Buffalo as a communications technician. My carefree days of being a college student came to an abrupt end. From 1981 on, I worked for AT&T and eventually Verizon while attending college in the evening eventually earning two bachelor’s degrees in business and history from the University at Buffalo. In 1988, I received my Masters in history, also from U.B. In 1980, while at NCCC I met my wife, Linda who grew up in Niagara Falls. We were married in 1984 and settled in the Town of Cambria where we purchased a beautiful old farmhouse which we rehabbed over the years. After 21 years, in 2008, we moved to an even older but still beautiful cobblestone home in the Town of Wilson where we continue to live along with our daughter, Maia and various pets including chickens, cats and donkeys. My hobbies include traveling, reading, flying single engine aircraft, paddling Lake Ontario with my family, hiking and cross-country skiing.