Richard Riccelli EE'76

Photo of Richard Riccelli

Rick Riccelli EE'76, formerly of Freehold, NJ, departed this life on September 20, 2023 at Tampa General Hospital. He passed peacefully with his beloved wife and daughter at his side.

Rick was proudly born and raised in a close-knit family in the Bronx, New York. He attended Cooper Union and went on to receive a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Brooklyn's Polytechnic Institute. He met his wife when they were connected by a wrong number. After working as an electrical engineer in the private sector, he left the city to work at Fort Monmouth and raise a family in Freehold, New Jersey.

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  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.