Spirit at 76: Mature Rutgers–Camden Student Graduates, But Will Never Stop Learning

CAMDEN - Dominick Ruggiero hadn’t planned on returning to school, but a series of events, including his wife’s death, got him thinking he needed a change. And quite a change it’s been for Ruggiero, who is 76.

Ruggiero, who will earn an undergraduate degree in liberal studies from Rutgers–Camden, embraced college with gusto, hanging out with students half his age (well, more like a third, really), playing pool in the student lounge, and delving into theater at Rutgers. “It’s like the fountain of youth,” he says.

With a minor in theater, Ruggiero has gotten involved in acting at Rutgers–Camden, playing the rabbi in Angels in America, as well as parts in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Tartuffe. “It’s just exhilarating,” says Ruggiero, a former mediator and health-care advocate.

“It gives you the opportunity to become somebody else for two hours. It’s just awesome.”

Next up? He has a part in an independent film, which starts shooting in June.

Ruggiero resides in Mantua.

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