Joseph Paul Lanza ’62

Joseph Paul Lanza, Simsbury, CT, died August 12, 2023. Paul came to Saint Michael’s from West Hartford, CT, where he was raised, and completed high school in 1954 before starting his education at Saint Michael’s. However, he interrupted his college education to serve in the Navy on the destroyer USS John Paul Jones, before graduating in 1962 with a degree in American Studies. His later studies included at Rhode Island School of Design.

Paul had a varied and interesting career. In 1963, he moved his family to Cape Cod to start a building and real estate development company. Over the years, he built more than 450 residential and commercial buildings, including the John F. Kennedy Memorial in Hyannis, MA. In 1976, Paul and his family moved to Simsbury when he became Executive Director of the Professional Golfers Association of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts. He was also a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and Kidder Peabody for several years before returning to construction and real estate development.

In retirement, he founded Cottage Furniture, which specialized in American Shaker and nautically inspired furniture. Paul was proud of the fact that the sea chests he built were often given as commemorative gifts to naval officers, and that they were in each of the 50 states and eight foreign countries. Committed to public service, Paul was nominated as a White House Fellow, and served as an advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Housing on usage of all-American housing materials in domestic and foreign markets. Paul served on the Barnstable (MA) School Building Committee, the Osterville Free Library Board of Trustees, and the Simsbury Building, Design Review, and Historic District Committees. He also volunteered for the Simsbury Food Bank. A lifelong golfer, Paul passed on his love of the game to his children and grandchildren. Paul was a President’s Medallion supporter of the College.

In addition to his wife of 62 years, Katharine, Paul is survived by three sons, two daughters, a sister and extended family.

To read the full obituary, click here: https://www.capecodtimes.com/obituaries/pneo0548677