Fred Vereen, Jr., born in 1933, recounts his early life in Trenton and Lawrence Township, New Jersey, where his parents, originally from South Carolina, faced racial discrimination that limited their job opportunities to agricultural work. He describes his family's housing, daily chores, and the impact of racism on his community and education. After high school, he worked at a National Guard Armory before being drafted into the US Army and deployed to Japan. He later became the Director of the Lawrence Township Community Center, managed the Eggerts Crossing Village housing project, and contributed to various community initiatives, including affordable housing and after-school programs. Throughout his life, Fred actively worked to combat racism and improve his community.
Joseph Trasatti, born in Philadelphia in 1927, moved with his family to Magnolia, New Jersey, in 1940. During World War II, he joined the US Navy as a naval corpsman, serving on the USS Westmoreland and in mobile hospital units in the Philippines and China. After his discharge in 1946, he used the GI Bill to study at the Gibson Institute of Accounting and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Trasatti had a successful career as a corporate accountant and later as a comptroller for a law firm.
Andrew J. Beck, ENG '50, born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1926, to Polish Foreign Minister Józef Beck, was raised by his mother after his parents' divorce. Fleeing the German invasion in 1939, he and his mother traveled through Europe before reaching the United States in 1940. Beck attended the Loomis School in Connecticut on a YMCA scholarship, then joined the Polish Army in Exile, training in Scotland. After World War II, he studied engineering at Rutgers and worked as a mechanical engineer, eventually becoming a chief engineer. He later managed Textron's Eastern European business and started his own export-import business. Beck maintained strong ties with Poland, preserving his father's legacy, and married a fellow Polish émigré, with whom he had two daughters.
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