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ALUMNI STORIES

Continuing a family legacy of building excellence

Romeo De Gasperis

Vice President and CEO, ConDrain Group

ConDrain continues to hire Seneca grads, and Romeo has expressed interest in serving as a program adviser.
PHOTO: JOANNE KLIMASZEWSKI

IN 1954, ROMEO DE GASPERIS'S father, Angelo, and uncle, Alfredo, founded a concrete and drain business called ConDrain. At the time, these recent immigrants had a truck and the resolute will to succeed. In 1960, their brother, Antonio, joined Alfredo and Angelo, and thanks to their perseverance, ConDrain Group is now one of Canada's largest land development, sewer and drainage companies. Romeo serves as its Vice President and CEO.

As ConDrain continues to grow under Romeo's and his cousin Jim's leadership, the biggest priority for them is to maintain the business traditions that began with their parents.

“We had a lot of faith in our fathers. They included us at a young age,” says Romeo. “Our kids will carry on that legacy.”

Romeo's apprenticeship started early. By age 12, he was in the field, mixing cement, driving packers and shadowing engineers. His experience came in handy for Seneca's Civil Engineering program.

“I wanted a practical education, and Seneca had one of the better engineering programs,” says Romeo. “I truly loved it.”

Along with his strong work ethic, Romeo has exhibited extraordinary resilience in confronting some serious health issues. At 28, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. The news was life changing.

“I took a step back and had to do things differently,” says Romeo.

One of the effects of Romeo's treatment was that he developed leukemia. Yet, he turned this challenge into an opportunity.

In 2012, Romeo organized a gala fund-raising dinner for Lymphoma Foundation Canada, raising $2.5 million for lymphoma research - surpassing the goal by $1.5 million.

18 RED 2015