Mike Scuderi:
CLASS OF 1969
Paramus High SchoolClass of 1969
Paramus, NJ
Mike's Story
When I was in high school, my first and only priority was to get out as fast as I could. I never felt like I really fit in with most groups and was somewhat a loner there for four years but, while there, I had the great fortune to have Mr. Vinnie Mosdar for a teacher in electronics, a field that I knew nothing about before attending but found extremely interesting and challenging. Little did I know how much his teaching would impact my life.
I tried college but was bored to tears and found that I was better suited for other than an academic career. I dropped out of college then flew for Eastern Airlines for a while but found the corporate culture to be too political for my tastes. With air carriers merging or being gobbled up, I constantly found myself losing whatever seniority I had gained. Leaving the industry, I went to work for a manufacturer of vacuum packaging equipment in international, technical, field service. I worked in many of the free European countries but after five years of nonstop travel, lost the taste for travel.
My prior introduction to electronics landed me a job with Western Electric (now Verizon) in the then cutting edge technology of touch tone dialing (remember rotary phone dials?). They sent me to company schools for five years where I learned lots of technical stuff but more importantly, that I would never survive the culture to see retirement without hurting someone.
Leaving there, I went to work for various companies where I learned then honed my skills in the electrical, mechanical, plumbing and engineering trades.
In 1974 I got married, moved to Glen Rock, bought a home, raise...Expand for more
d two children, earned my electrical contracting license, continued to fly privately and started a sales and service business in 1981, trading in the tristate area.
At the same time, I had the great fortune to come full circle by becoming a part time evening teacher at Bergen County Vo-Tech, eventually becoming the department head of the electrical department. I had the pleasure to do that for thirty five years, finally retiring in 2017.
I remarried in 2014 and have never regretted it. Leaving Glen Rock in the rearview mirror, I settled in Hawthorne where my future wife and I bought a two family home along the ridge.
I continued building my business, added an airplane sales business to the mix. In 2002, I bought a textile service business that I currently own and operate to this day.
In 2005, I was approached by a head hunting firm to oversee a very special element of electrical construction for NJ Transit. Having completed that job, I became a technical consultant to them for the next nine years after which, they hired me as a full time Construction Manager.
After taking a full retirement from the state, my wife and I bought a gorgeous parcel of land in western north Carolina between the Blue Ridge and the Smoky mountains. Together, we designed and built a gorgeous, custom home that we currently hope to enjoy as our final resting place.
I look back at all my adventures in awe and wonder if I have been living in a dream. I have been truly blessed to have made so many career changes and to have come out on top. To that end and to this day, I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
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