Instructions:
• Please make checks payable to East Los Angeles College Foundation.
• Please make sure you write in the memo line "For For Vince Carlo Moretti GRIT Scholarship".
• Mail the check to:
East Los Angeles College Foundation
1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Vince Moretti was born and raised in Los Angeles, and lived in-and-around L.A. his entire life. In his youth, Vince loved sports and was a good athlete. He was somewhat small for his age, but wiry and competitive. He also had a mischievous streak. He participated in BB-gun fights with his older brother and once shot his tooth out! He hung out at the park with some of his tougher friends and got into a fight or two.

In school, Vince was bright but not motivated. Entering his senior year at Washington High, college was not on his radar. He liked mathematics and even earned the nickname “Algie” because he loved solving Algebra problems, but it wasn’t until his stepfather had a heart-to-heart talk with him that he got serious about his education. He signed up for all the hardest math and science classes his senior year and then, purely on his own, requested and was granted a second senior year in high school to gain his college credits. This was unheard of back then.

Around this time, he met Mary Falkenstien and in 1955 they were married. Their first child Vince Jr. was born in 1956 followed by Tony in 1957, then Gina in 1959 and finally Lisa in 1961. With four young children, Vince Sr. worked several jobs while attending Pepperdine University then USC, where he graduated with a Civil Engineering degree in 1962 as a member of the Skull and Dagger Society, an exclusive honor society for a select few campus leaders.

Vince started his career in aerospace at the height of the space race, making contributions to rocket technology and then to the ICBM program during the cold war. Later he transitioned to more traditional Civil Engineering pursuits, working in private construction, government (City of Torrance), and he founded his own Engineering business, The Vincent C. Moretti Company. Vince retired in 1992, but he wasn’t finished. There was one more chapter to his story. He became a Professor and ultimately Department Head at East Los Angeles College. There he taught and inspired young people, many of whom were second generation immigrants like himself. Vince’s optimistic message to his students - that education and hard work will be rewarded - came from his own experience living the American dream.

What we will always remember about Vince is his can-do spirit and child-like playfulness. Those who knew him can attest, being in his company made you feel forever young.