Leopold Saverio Vaccaro was a noted surgeon and scientist who was decorated for assisting with the reconstruction of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the

aftermath of World War I The aftermath of World War I saw drastic political, cultural, economic, and social change across Eurasia, Africa, and even in areas outside those that were directly involved. Four empires collapsed due to the war, old countries were abolished, ne ...

Biographical Information

Born February 2, 1887, in

Rionero in Vulture Rionero in Vulture ( aae, Arrionero) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is located on the slopes of Monte Vulture in the northern part of the region. The village was founded and ...

, Italy, to Giovanni Battista Vaccaro, a tailor, and Maria Rachele Laus. Vaccaro immigrated to the United States from his native country as a child, in 1902. He took his medical training at the Medico-Chirurgical College of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, graduating in 1916. In the first years of his career, he worked as a staff surgeon at

munition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapo ...

s plants run by E.I. DuPont de Numours Co., served in the

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

, and made trips to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

to do medical research. In 1921 he was made Chevalier of the Crown of Italy for his efforts raising one quarter million dollars for rehabilitation of that country after World War I. His medical career was taking off at the same time, as he joined the staff of

Pennsylvania Hospital Pennsylvania Hospital is a private, non-profit, 515-bed teaching hospital located in Center City Philadelphia and is part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Founded on May 11, 1751, by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond, Pennsylv ...

and was appointed to the medical faculty of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He published on a range of topics, both medical and historical. He had an academic interest in

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

. Further decorations earned by Vaccaro include the title Commander of the Crown of Italy and an honorary medical degree from the

University of Rome La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

. Vaccaro was married to Pierina Chiera, who was the sister of the archaeologist and writer Edward Chiera, discoverer of the famed clay tablets of

Nuzi Nuzi (or Nuzu; Akkadian Gasur; modern Yorghan Tepe, Iraq) was an ancient Mesopotamian city southwest of the city of Arrapha (modern Kirkuk), located near the Tigris river. The site consists of one medium-sized multiperiod tell and two small sing ...

Legacy

Vaccaro has been described as a "community spokesman" by Historian Richard A. Varbero in Allen Freeman Davis and Mark H. Haller's book ''The Peoples of Philadelphia: A History of Ethnic Groups and Lower-class Life: 1790-1940''. Varbero reprinted a quote of Vaccaro's that originally appeared in January 1929 in the Italian-American newspaper, ''La Libera Parola'', concerning 'Americanization.' In that article, Vaccaro stated "The ideals preached by the Americanization teacher do not coincide with the attitude of the gang boss, the native union man, the fellow workingman, who, although compelled economically to work with the alien, would not voluntarily have him as a neighbor. Theory and practice are not synonymous."Richard A. Varbero, "Philadelphia's South Italians in the 1920s" in Allen Freeman Davis and Mark H. Haller, ''The Peoples of Philadelphia: A History of Ethnic Groups and Lower-class Life: 1790-1940'', (University of Pennsylvania Press), p. 257.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaccaro, Leopold Saverio Year of death missing American surgeons American medical writers American male non-fiction writers Italian emigrants to the United States University of Pennsylvania faculty Medical educators American historians People from Rionero in Vulture Year of birth missing