Conrad J. Floridia, RIP

Conrad J. Floridia died March 2nd, 2009. Mr. Floridia taught me chemistry and physics in high school; he taught my friends Advanced Biology and he was the faculty advisor of the National Honor Society. He had an eight-track player in his classroom, with quadrophonic sound and light boxes that pulsed with the music. He threw textbooks to each student, on the first day of class--with remarkable accuracy. He threw marvelous Christmas parties every year. He taught us the same rigor in note-taking (and recopying!) as his Jesuit professors taught him. He was one of my earliest mentors, and I grieve his death.

My Physics class built, out of milk crates, the "Conrad J. Floridia Memorial Bookshelves" in his preparation room, 28 years ago. I suppose those bookcrates have been torn down, but they still exist in my heart.