Victor Laruccia was a big teddy bear of a man, and like a teddy bear he exuded warmth and comfort. You just felt better in his presence. He also had a brilliant mind, a hungry curiosity and a passion for life.San Diego Italian Film Festival founder Victor Laruccia stands next to his wife Janice at a festival event in this undated photo.
The festival began small but grew into a successful, multi-venue and year-long event about not just Italian film but what he liked to call,"an Italian perspective." In recent years, Laruccia was trying to step back a little from his leadership role in the festival in order to give younger colleagues such as Antonio Iannotta and Diana Agostini a chance to assume more duties and responsibilities. He was still a presence at events and during the pandemic on the festival Zoom discussions you could always find him raising his hand to speak or stir conversation with a question.
"We want it to stay very true to Victor's vision of the Piazza," Davies said."I want it to be a place where people feel welcome and can gather and experience things together, whether it be film or food or just celebrations or conversations. But as I say to people, Victor is irreplaceable. So I can't do the things that Victor could do, where he could talk deeply about films and history and Italian culture.