www.canisiushigh.org
11
1987 to 1990, he graciously fulfilled
the position of orthopedic surgeon at
Warsaw Community Hospital while
they sought a permanent orthopedic
surgeon, and currently serves as chair
of Medina Hospital’s Orthopedics Peer
Review.
The merger of Millard Fillmore
Hospital with Kaleida Health benefit-
ted fromLombardo’s role as a founding
member of the Kaleida Health board
of directors, as well as the transfer of
his chairmanship of the Department
of Orthopedics at Millard to the chair-
manship of the same department in
the Millard Division of Kaleida. He is
a member of the Eastern Orthopedic
Association, the American Association
of Hip and Knee Surgeons, and since
2000 has acted as a reviewer in the
Office of Professional Medical Conduct.
After serving as treasurer and vice
president, Lombardo is the 2012
president-elect of the Erie County
Medical Society. Over a career, he has
been elected to more than 20 leader-
ship positions on medical, hospital
and educational boards throughout
WesternNewYork and NewYork State.
Lombardo has also served as a trustee
of Canisius High School since 2010, a
role he relishes because it allows himto
serve an organization for which he “has
a passion,” and included the opportu-
nity to participate in the CHS Habitat
for Humanity project on Laurel Street.
Lombardo is father to four chil-
dren and has been married to Donna
Lombardo for 39 years. They make
their home in East Aurora, N.Y.
Joseph M. Rutowski, Jr., R.Ph. ‘52
In 1952, Joseph Rutowski was the
first of what would become three gen-
erations of Rutowski young men to
attend Canisius High School in prep-
aration for higher education and a
professional career. Now, 60 years lat-
er, his five sons are CHS graduates and
grandson Benjamin is a member of
the Class of 2013. The elder Rutowski
says he is “humbled to receive this
prestigious honor” of induction to the
Distinguished Alumni Hall of Honor,
recalling that his education at CHS
began with wonderful teachers who
taught him to think and weigh all sides
of an issue and “look at the big picture”
to understand people, nations, govern-
ment and economics.
Rutowski earned his B.S. in biology
from The University of Buffalo and, in
1961, graduated from the Pharmacy
Program there, not long after studying
for a year in Switzerland and marry-
ing Martha Rollek, a registered nurse.
Rutowski then spent nearly two de-
cades helping his parents Joseph and
Florence to operate their business, The
Buffalo Floral, while working evenings
as a pharmacist.
The example set by Rutowski’s par-
ents of hard work and business own-
ership made seizing the opportunity
to purchase Tile Pharmacy in 1978 the
fulfillment of a life-long goal. By that
time, he and Martha had six children
and the coming years held 14-hour
days, with Martha taking on many du-
ties (including making deliveries) and
each of his children pitching in. The
family now owns and operates four
pharmacies in Cheektowaga, Elma,
Hamburg andWarsaw, N.Y., helmed by
their sons Joseph A., John, Jeffrey and
James, respectively, all pharmacists.
The Rutowski Family Pharmacies
was the 2010 recipient of the Am-Pol
Eagle Citizen of the Year Award for
Business, owing largely to their com-
mitment to personal attention to cus-
tomers. Caring for and service to others
is special to Rutowski, who remembers
how CHS, his Polish culture and faith
were all instrumental in instilling these
values. “This is what I have done forev-
er,” he explains, “and preferably with-
out fanfare.”
A regular financial supporter of
CHS and active member of the Class of
1952, Rutowski reflects on CHS fond-
ly and gratefully, saying “I loved my
school then andmore so now,” wishing
that every youngman could receive the
Jesuit education that he did. In addition
to his four pharmacist sons, son Jerome
is a registered nurse at Sisters Hospital
and daughter Ann Marie is a certified
registered nurse anesthetist. Rutowski
himself has most recently been the
bookkeeper for the Rutowski Family
Pharmacies, six decades after Canisius
High School prepared him “for a pro-
fessional career, always in service to
others.”
Rev. Eugene A. Zimpfer, S.J. ‘49
In the spring of 1949, Eugene
Zimpfer, ranked number three in his
class at Canisius High School, was pre-
paring his valedictory speech. Four
years later he would graduate magna
cum laude fromNotreDamewith a B.S.
in electrical engineering and a foun-
dation in the skills he has applied to
everything he does. “When I do some-
thing, I do it well,” he says, with a per-
sonal motto that is, simply, “fix it.” A
drive to improve motivates him: “If it
needs to be done, I’m going to do it and
get people to help.”
Following Notre Dame, Zimpfer
worked at General Electric for one year
before he entered the Society of Jesus
and began his nearly six-decade com-
mitment to the Jesuit values of educa-
tion and Catholic faith.
The stages of his Jesuit formation
would provide Zimpfer with a distin-
guished education, earning degrees
from Loyola Seminary (philosophy,
1960), Fordham (physics, 1962) and