This year, 85-year-old Tom Maniscalco completed something that has been 65 years in the making.
On Friday, May 16, Maniscalco crossed the stage during Rutgers University’s School of Engineering commencement and received his diploma. He now becomes the oldest-ever graduate in any degree program at Rutgers.
During the past six years, Maniscalco took one course per semester toward earning a master’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering at the state university.
He told NJ.com that receiving this degree honors the memory of his dad. Sixty-five years ago, during his senior year at Rutgers, Maniscalco left Rutgers, knowing the decision would disappoint his father, who wanted to see him graduate from the university.
“This is my present to him now,” Maniscalco said.
After leaving Rutgers, Maniscalco worked for the Bendix Corporation in Teterboro. He performed calibrations on testing equipment for Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo space missions to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s.
While working at Bendix, he attended classes at night at New York University and completed his bachelor’s degree in 1967, one decade after beginning his first year at Rutgers.
He then was employed at Kearfott Guidance & Navigation in Woodland Park, where he served as a senior design and development engineer. There, he contributed his knowledge to the guidance systems that would later be implemented in the Space Shuttle program.
In the intervening years, Maniscalco received degrees at New Jersey Institute of Technology, eventually earning a Doctor of Engineering degree.
But it was the memory of his father that beckoned Maniscalco back to Rutgers. Despite his age, Maniscalco faithfully kept up with his assignments as he made progress toward completing his degree requirements.
After graduation, Maniscalco will focus on his hobbies — “aerodynamics, World War II aircraft, and also Indianapolis 500 racing cars,” he said — and work as vice chair of the local section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
