By Morgan Kelly ’ 90
Ms . Iannicelli with eighth graders at The Metropolitan Museum of Art .
Tribute to Nancy Iannicelli
By Morgan Kelly ’ 99
Nancy Iannicelli , my mother , has been associated with Saint David ’ s School for over 32 years . Her first decade of commitment began as a parent , when I started Nursery in 1989 . Throughout the 1990s , she would serve the school in a variety of capacities : volunteer , class parent , and secretary of the Parents Association , where she not only began the PA newsletter but also carefully wrote the Annual Benefit ’ s multi-paged auction catalogue for two consecutive years . Ms . Iannicelli infused each undertaking with a refined wit and wisdom that showcased a love of the school and its mission of educating boys so that they be good men . During my final year at Saint David ’ s , in 1999 , she was approached by then- Headmaster Don Maiocco with an opportunity that , as she has often said , “ changed my life .”
Over the next 22 years , Ms . Iannicelli would commit herself to growing , shaping , and refining the Eighth Grade Humanities program into one that would become famous ( and sometimes imitated ) not only in the independent school community of New York City , but also in other institutions in the larger world of art . While this article could list her litany of accomplishments at Saint David ’ s , that would go against Ms . Iannicelli ’ s ethos . That is just not my mother . And to spend a whole article focused on professional achievements would be , for her , rather gauche . So , instead , this piece will attempt to get at the heart of Ms . Iannicelli and seek to pay tribute to her generation and a half of service and dedication to the mission , to the school , but most importantly , to the boys of Saint David ’ s .
One of the main precepts of artistic expression is parallelism . Oftentimes , art reflects life and life reflects art . Some of you may know that Ms . Iannicelli comes from a baseball family . Her father , when he was a tall and athletic fifteen years old , ran away from his home in Brooklyn to join the Chicago Cubs because they “ needed him .” And while the moribund 1921 Cubs , who finished seventh in the National League that year no doubt could have used some assistance , it would not
10 • Saint David ’ s Magazine