Paying Success Forward
A Greensboro couple’s gift to the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative serves as a tangible reminder of the good that comes from giving back and maintaining strong family ties.
For Bob and Terri Lamendola, giving to the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative has been a chance to continue their long-time support of education, contribute to the initiative’s momentum and, at the same time, honor deeply meaningful family ties.
In recognition of the Lamendola’s support, NC State University’s Board of Trustees recently approved the naming of the Lamendola & Trigilio Family Study Room on the third floor of the Plant Sciences Building.
Gifts like these help cultivate innovation, fuel discovery and empower the next generation of agricultural leaders.
With their contribution, the Lamendolas join over 30 individuals, families, companies, farms and other organizations who made donations to name spaces in the building while furthering the N.C. PSI’s mission and impact.
“We are so grateful for the Lamendolas’ support,” said N.C. PSI Executive Director Adrian Percy. “Gifts like these help cultivate innovation, fuel discovery and empower the next generation of agricultural leaders, which are all important steps toward ensuring long-term food security and sustainability here in North Carolina and beyond.”
Opening Doors
Through the N.C. PSI, the Lamendolas saw the opportunity to help open the door to rewarding experiences for students.
Earlier this month, on their first visit to the study room named for their family, they saw glimmers of the good that might come from their gift as they passed a school group visiting the N.C. PSI’s Demo Lab.
“The kids were so excited,” Terri noted afterward. “It was great to see their enthusiasm.”
Bob had experienced similar excitement when he first toured the Plant Sciences Building a year ago.
“I was very impressed with the different groups that are using the building and the things that the professors here are working on. They’re just brilliant people,” Lamendola recalled.
A Legacy of Giving
The Lamendolas say they see giving to the N.C. PSI as a way to continue paying forward the support that helped position Bob for career success. The couple has a long history of giving to educational institutions, scholarships, children’s hospitals and other charitable causes.
“We both come from poor families, and the success or luck that I’ve had in business allowed us to establish a charitable trust and give back to a lot of different things, including education,” said Bob, the retired president and chief executive officer of The St. Paul Companies’ Surety and Insurance Division.
“We are happy to share with our success by helping other people,” he said. “It’s been important for us to helping kids like us that really grew up with nothing.”
Both Bob and Terri entered the workforce immediately after high school. Terri worked as a secretary, and Bob joined the military, serving overseas in the late 1960s. When he returned from service, he decided to enroll as an undergraduate at Buffalo State University.
It’s been important for us to helping kids like us that really grew up with nothing.
Terri continued working, and support from her salary, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and a scholarship to the Buffalo State University allowed Bob to become the first in his family to earn a college degree.
As Bob quickly established himself in the insurance industry, Terri stepped back from work, choosing to turn her full-time attention to raising their children, Leigh and Rob.
Over time, the children dispersed – Leigh to Greensboro, where she and her husband, Marc Trigilio, are attorneys, and Rob, an engineer, to Connecticut. Bob and Terri visited each frequently, and, after their son decided to move to the Triad, they followed suit.
“He was down here closing on his house, and we’re sitting in Cape May, New Jersey, saying, ‘Why are we here?’” Bob recalls. “Our daughter had been in Greensboro for 20 years, so we knew the area, and we loved it here. So, we just gave each other a knowing look, like ‘It’s a gift. It’s important.’ And now we are here.”
A Gift That Keeps Giving
Being in Greensboro has given the Lamendolas the chance to spend more time with their three granddaughters and to become part of the extended Wolfpack family.
Two of their granddaughters have studied in NC State’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences: Carlina Trigilio is a current student, and Liliana Trigilio earned her bachelor’s degree from the college before entering law school at Villanova University earlier this year. Their third granddaughter is in high school.
The Lamendolas say their gift is, in part, a celebration of their granddaughters and a tangible reminder of the value of maintaining deep family ties.
It’s a value they have seen play out in their own families over many generations. While material goods were scarce in their childhoods, Bob and Terri saw a richness in the deep connections among their extended families – his of Italian descent, and hers, Polish.
“It’s the way we were brought up,” Terri said. “Hopefully our granddaughters will keep that tradition going.”
About the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative
With over 100 faculty affiliates from nine NC State colleges, the N.C. PSI brings together the brightest minds from academia, government and industry to solve complex agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary scientific discovery and innovation, extension outreach and engagement, and education and workforce development. It is part of NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with ties to the Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs. The state-of-the-art Plant Sciences Building, which opened in 2022, serves as the initiative’s headquarters.
