Beginning of the Story: Richard A. Oriani, Professor Emeritus of the University of Minnesota, died at the age of 95 on August 11 in Edina, Minnesota. He was born on July 19, 1920 in San Salvador, El Salvador to Americo and Berta Oriani. His father was an optician and in later years in the United States, he was prominent in the development of contact lenses. The family immigrated to the United States in 1929 with brother Ernest and sister Elena when Americo’s dream of singing in opera productions in Central America ended in failure, and he gratefully accepted an offer from an optical shop on New York City’s Wall Street to return to the optical business.
The year 1929 was difficult for the United States, and especially for a nine-year-old boy taken away from a small country where his family was accomplished and respected. In El Salvador his maternal grandfather...
