Rocco C. Siciliano papers, 1938-2018

Rocco C. Siciliano (1922-2018), was an attorney who served in four presidentially appointed positions and as a corporation chief officer of two New York Stock Exchange companies. The son of Italian immigrants from Calabria, Mr Siciliano is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. He served in the United States Army during World War II as an Infantry Platoon Leader in the Tenth Mountain Infantry Division in Italy and was awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Army Special Commendation Ribbon. Mr. Siciliano received his Bachelor's degree in political science with honors from the University of Utah in 1944 and his law degree from Georgetown University in 1948. From 1948-1950, he was a legal assistant to a board member in the National Labor Relations Board. From 1953-1959, Mr. Siciliano served by presidential appointment in the Eisenhower administration, first as an assistant secretary in the United States Department of Labor where he directed the nationwide employment and manpower activities. In 1957, Mr. Siciliano moved to the White House as Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management where he advised and assisted President Dwight D. Eisenhower with respect to management policies, wage rates, and employment systems for all federal civilian employees, covering more than two million employees working in some sixty executive departments and agencies.

From 1959-1969, Mr. Siciliano was a partner in the Washington law firm of Wilkinson, Cragun & Barker (each partner was originally from Utah). During that time he served as counsel to national trade associations, including business and educational organizations. In April 1965, while retaining his partnership in the Washington law firm, he became president and chief executive of the Pacific Maritime Association, headquartered in San Francisco. He served in that position until January of 1969 when he received a presidential appointment as the under secretary of the United States Department of Commerce. As the deputy secretary, he was responsible for the overall management of the Department. In October of 1971, President Richard M. Nixon appointed him as a management member and later a public member of the Federal Pay Board. He served in that part-time position until 1973. From 1971 through 1984 Mr. Siciliano served as president, then as chairman and chief executive officer (1976) of TICOR, a national Los Angeles based diversified financial services company. After retirement in 1984, he became counsel to the national law firm of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue leaving in 1987 after becoming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Health Properties, a newly formed real estate investment trust. He is a founding member and past chairman (1986) of the California Business Roundtable (comprised of 90+ leading corporations of the State of California).

Mr. Siciliano is the Chairman of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization that works to develop innovative ways to improve democratic self-government. After a fifth presidential appointment, the last by President William Clinton, he was elected Chairman of the newly-established national Eisenhower Memorial Commission in 2001. In addition to the four public members, the Commission is comprised of four United States Senators and four members of the House of Representatives. The Commission is charged with recommending a suitable enduring memorial for one of our great presidents, Dwight David Eisenhower. Earlier he had served as president and chairman of the Dwight D. Eisenhower World Affairs Institute in Washington, D.C.

In 1997, the Sicilianos established The Rocco C. and Marion S. Siciliano Forum at the University of Utah. The Siciliano Forum is designed to offer an open, nonbiased forum for students, faculty, and the citizenry to focus their attention on the most important, least tractable public issues facing America today. This forum reflects Mr. Siciliano's extensive involvement in both the public and the private sectors, and his dedication to public service that has been the hallmark of his distinguished career. In 2004, the University of Utah Press published Mr. Siciliano's biography, Walking on Sand: The Story of an Immigrant Son and the Forgotten Art of Public Service with Drew Ross.

In addition to his career as a public servant, Mr. Siciliano has served on many corporate boards and is a trustee emeritus of the Committee for Economic Development and the J. Paul Getty Trust. He is a lifetime member of the Board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (serving as both its president and chairman). He was a founding board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Mr. Siciliano received many awards for his public service activities and three honorary doctorates: an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Hebrew Union College (1989); an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service from Gettysburg College (2001); and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Utah (2001). He married the former Marion Leonore Stiebel in 1947. They met after she fled Hitler's Germany and while she was working as a librarian using her knowledge of several European languages as a cataloger in the Research and Intelligence Division of the U.S. Department of State. Marion Siciliano is a well-known contemporary artist whose works have been shown both nationally and internationally. She has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions and her work is represented in many museum, corporate, and private collections in the United States and abroad. In 2001 along with her husband, she received an Honorary Doctorate (in Fine Arts) from Gettysburg College. Marion received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on 14 February 2001. The Sicilianos have five children-Loretta, Vincent, Fred, John, and Maria-one granddaughter and six grandsons. They make their home in Beverly Hills, California.

• 1922 Born in Salt Lake City, UT on March 4, 1922
• 1928-36 Attended Hawthorne Elementary School
• 1936-38 Bryant Jr. High
• 1938-1940 South High School: Editor of South High Scribe, Valedictorian
• 1940-44 Attended U of U, was treasurer of Freshman class, president of the sophomore class, 2nd VP of the Student Body. Graduated with BA and honors in Political Science
• 1944-46 Began active duty on April 5, 1943. Attended Officer's Candidate School, assigned to 10th Mountain Division, sent to Italy as a platoon leader, promoted in 1945 to 1st Lieut. Earned the Bronze Medal for Valor
• 1946-1948 Attended/graduated from Georgetown University Law School
• 1947 Married Marion Leonore Stiebel on November 8, 1947
• 1948-1949 Hired as assistant to former Utah Senator Abe Murdock, on the National Labor Relations Board. Became a legal assistant and member of Washington DC bar
• 1950 Joins PROCON in Chicago
• 1953 Appointed as an Assistant Secretary of Labor under Eisenhower
• 1955 Receives award from Utah Jr. Chamber of Commerce, Man of the Year Award
• 1957 Appointed as Special Assistant to President Eisenhower for Personnel Management. Arranges the first black leaders policy meeting with a President
• 1959 Joins law firm of Wilkinson, Cragun & Barker in DC
• 1964 Interviewed for President of U of U, James Fletcher chosen
• 1965 Becomes chief exec of Pacific Maritime Assn, 1966 becomes CEO as well
• 1967 Receives Distinguished Alumnus Award from U of U
• 1968 Founding member of the University of Utah National Advisory Council
• 1969-71 Under secretary of Commerce under President Nixon
• 1971 Joins TICOR in Los Angeles as President
• 1971-73 Named to Federal Pay Board. (a part-time position)
• 1976 Becomes CEO and Chairman of TICOR
• 1977-86 President and Chairman of Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
• 1981-95 Named as trustee to the Getty Trust
• 1982 TICOR taken over by Southern Pacific, Rocco becomes board member of Southern Pacific, continues as TICOR CEO
• 1983- present Chairman of the Center for Governmental Studies, Los Angeles
• 1989 Received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hebrew Union College
• 1991 President and Chief Executive of the Eisenhower Institute
• 1996 Becomes Trustee emeritus of the J. Getty Trust
• 1997 Endowment established at UU by Siciliano to establish Siciliano Forum in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
• 2000-present Appointed by President Clinton as a member of the Federal Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission, Washington, D.C., elected chairman in 2001.
• 2001 Received an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service from Gettysburg College
• 2001 Received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Utah
• 2004 Published his autobiography: Walking on Sand: The Story of an Immigrant Son and the Forgotten Art of Public Service with Drew Ross.