A Community United: Honouring a Beloved Professor’s Legacy

^{Luisa Giacometti (left) and Professor Konrad Eisenbichler sit on the memorial bench honouring Professor Olga Zorzi Pugliese. (Photo by Neil Gaikwad)}

By Samantha Chater

What began as a simple idea—a memorial bench in the Quad to honour a beloved professor—quickly became a testament to the deep connections Olga Zorzi Pugliese forged over nearly five decades at Victoria College. Within months, friends, colleagues and community members raised $10,000, turning a gesture of remembrance into a symbol of enduring gratitude.

Three organizers emerged from different corners of her life. Luisa Giacometti had worked with Pugliese on a project acknowledging Italian mosaicists at the Royal Ontario Museum. Paola Breda knew her through the Italian Fallen Workers Memorial Wall Project. Professor Konrad Eisenbichler had been her colleague at Vic since the 1970s. “It was such a large amount of money,” Giacometti said. “I thought it would take years. But no, within a few months, we had raised $10,000. It was amazing.”

Giacometti met Pugliese only in 2023, yet felt compelled to act, a testament to Pugliese’s impact.

The speed with which the monies were raised reflected Pugliese’s generosity to students, colleagues and her community, which had created lasting bonds spanning decades and continents. Donations arrived from across Canada, Italy and beyond, Giacometti said.

A scholarship in her name at Vic already existed, the Olga and Guido Pugliese Scholarship for Study in Italy established by the Puglieses themselves. However, the group wanted something more visible. Eisenbichler suggested a bench on the Vic U campus where Pugliese had built her career, serving as director of the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies and championing the Renaissance Studies program.

Eisenbichler chose the location carefully: an intersection in the Quad where students and faculty pass between buildings. The bench sits beside one honouring Brian Merrilees, a close friend of Pugliese’s.

“They were really good friends and now they are keeping each other company,” Eisenbichler said.

For Eisenbichler, the memorial held deep personal meaning. Pugliese had supported his career, encouraging him to pursue early tenure and backing his promotion to full professor. He calls her his “academic mother.”

^{Olga Zorzi Pugliese. Photo: Department of Italian Studies, University of Toronto}

“What she did for me, she did in other ways for so many other people,” Eisenbichler said. “So, she was very much not only collegial, but supportive.”

The memorial bench was unveiled in a ceremony on Sept. 28 that drew more than 100 people, more than double the expected number. Family, former students, colleagues and members of Toronto’s Italian community gathered to honour a scholar whose influence extended across borders and generations.