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October 23, 2014

Obituary: Richard J. Pofi

PofiTelecommunications technician Richard J. Pofi “was your go-to guy,” said colleague Linda Bucci in Computing Services and Systems Development.

“No matter what you asked him to do, it would be done. Talking to other people at the University, everyone always had something nice to say about Rich.”

Pofi, a Penn Hills resident, was stricken in his Bellefield Hall office on Oct. 10, 2014, and died at age 63.

He was responsible for the installation and maintenance of the University’s voice and data network across campus. Bucci, a systems analyst, knew Pofi for his nearly 19-year Pitt career, which began in December 1995.

“We became friends over the years, not only professionally but socially,” Bucci recalled. “We both had grandchildren and we’d always talk about the grandchildren,” as well as local cultural events they had attended, such as theatre. She said Pofi rarely talked about his involvement in the community, working as an usher at St. Susanna Church and as a band and Boy Scout parent.

But he often talked about his three grandchildren. “His grandchildren were the world to him,” she said.

Pofi also loved to cook, Bucci said. “We’d have luncheons here and he’d do all the cooking,” including fresh tomato sauces and homemade meatballs for spaghetti.

“He was one of the best friends you could ever have. Losing him left a void in my heart.”

He is survived by wife Barbara A. (Schuette) Pofi, children Thomas E. Pofi and Deborah P. Sokolowski and son-in-law James, grandchildren Alexandra Pofi and Cecilia and Finnegan Sokolowski, brother Louis Pofi and sister-in-law Ursula, and sister Rose Marie Vizzini and brother-in-law Sal.

—Marty Levine

Filed under: Feature,Volume 47 Issue 5