In memoriam: Professor Emeritus Joseph L. Scarpaci

Joseph Scarpaci, professor emeritus of geography in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, died on Dec. 30 in Blacksburg.

A member of the Virginia Tech community for approximately 20 years, Scarpaci engaged in the scholarship of urban and social geography and international development in Latin America with a specialization on globalization and Cuban civil society. He was the author of numerous works of scholarship, including "Havana: Two Faces of the Antillean Metropolis," which received the Choice Outstanding Book Award from the American Library Association.

In 2018, Scarpaci co-led a study abroad trip to Cuba, where his expertise and long-standing connections in the country allowed Virginia Tech students to explore the capital city of Havana at a time of dynamic transition for the Caribbean country.

Scarpaci was selected by the Virginia Social Science Association as the Geography-Scholar of 2008 and was elected the vice chair of the Latin American Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers from 2008-11.

A native of Pittsburgh, Scarpaci received a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, a master’s degree from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He was a two-time recipient of a Fulbright grant, receiving a Fulbright Doctoral Dissertation award to study in Santiago, Chile, in 1983 and a Fulbright Senior Specialist award to conduct research in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 2008.

Scarpaci is survived by his wife Gilda Machin-Scarpaci; children Cristina Scarpaci (Christopher Collier) and Michael Scarpaci (Katie Scarpaci); and granddaughter, Josephine Amelia Collier. Scarpaci’s family will hold a celebration of his life in Blacksburg this spring.