John T. Rettaliata lifted weights into his 90s, played a role in starting the American space program and shepherded the Illinois Institute of Technology through its largest period of growth.
But perhaps one of his greatest accomplishments came when Dr. Rettaliata, as president of IIT, oversaw the construction of a masterpiece of modern American architecture, S.R. Crown Hall, by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the 1950s.
“The school really boomed during his tenure,” said Lewis Collens, who served as president of IIT from 1990 to 2007. “He was the key person that created what we think of as the modern IIT academically.”
Dr. Rettaliata, 97, died Saturday, Aug. 8, leaving a legacy entrenched in the school he led for 21 years and in the world of aeronautical engineering.
Dr. Rettaliata, who earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University in 1936, worked with the U.S. government during World War II to help develop technology that led to the development of America’s first jet engine. But that was merely the beginning of his contributions.
The Illinois Institute of Technology appointed Dr. Rettaliata, 40 years old at the time, to serve as the school’s youngest president in 1952. He guided the university through its largest expansion, which included the building of Mies structures that continue to make up the school’s main campus.
Dr. Rettaliata also began what Collens called the university’s first serious fundraising effort. In literature for that campaign, the institution, previously referred to as “Illinois Tech,” used the phrase “Invest In Tomorrow.”
The “IIT” abbreviation became shorthand for the school’s name, Collens said.
During his tenure as president, Dr. Rettaliata also folded into IIT the Chicago-Kent College of Law and the Stuart Graduate School of Business, both in 1969, according to Collens.
While at IIT, Dr. Rettaliata would help plan the United States space program when President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him to the National Aeronautics and Space Council.
Friend J.R. Davis said many knew Dr. Rettaliata’s accomplishments, but no one heard him brag of them.
“You’d never know [of his achievements] by meeting him,” said Davis. “He never wanted anyone to feel uncomfortable or feel they weren’t matched.”
In what little free time he had, Dr. Rettaliata enjoyed his favorite cocktail — two ounces of Jack Daniel’s with no ice — and puttering on the Valiant, his 57-foot yacht, which he kept “impeccable” at Burnham Harbor in Chicago for 50 years, Davis said.
Collens said he visited Dr. Rettaliata about three years ago on the boat and was shocked to see his predecessor lifting weights at age 94.
“I got a big kick out of him,” Collens said. “In terms of physical fitness, he was just amazing.”
Professionally, Dr. Rettaliata enjoyed many honors. IIT named him to its Alumni Hall of Fame in 2006, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers awarded him its Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal in 1942.
He was awarded six honorary doctorates, said spokesman John Pastuovic.
In addition to wife, Caryl Pucci Rettaliata, Dr. Rettaliata is survived by two sons, Brian and Stephen; a daughter, Patricia; and three grandchildren.
Visitation for Dr. Rettaliata will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday, with a funeral mass following at 11 a.m. at Holy Name Cathedral Chapel, 30 E. Superior St.
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