Anyone who carries a Duke card has Joseph Pietrantoni to thank. Known among friends as “Joe Piet,” Pietrantoni served as associate vice president for auxiliary services where he built an auxiliary infrastructure that became the envy of many universities.
He began his 30-year career at Duke in 1970 after working at GE Aerospace in Cape Canaveral. He started as the assistant director of facilities management where he handled grounds, sanitation and housekeeping. Eventually, he became director of campus services and started building auxiliary services. In the mid-80s, he became assistant vice president.
Pietrantoni is credited with bringing a great deal of innovation to the university. In addition to making the Duke Card the key to the university – from residence halls and academic buildings to parking lots and library services – he was the point of origin for “Pizza on Points.”
He also arranged for local restaurants to deliver on campus. He centralized printing services and shaped the Duke Transit bus system. He came up with the Conference Services group, which gave Duke a summer clientele and made everyone’s life easier by offering a single, centralized contact with Duke’s labyrinthine departments.
In addition to his innovative ideas, he also took students and employees under his wing, providing them with practical business experience and the chance to develop their management skills.
Many of those concepts have been copied on campuses across the country. In 2003, Pietrantoni was awarded the University Medal.
He retired in 2003 at the age of 78.
“Not enough people recognize or remember how far ahead of his time Joe and his students and staff were,” said Tallman Trask, III, then executive vice president, said at the time of his death. “Joe was a wonderful person. His wit and energy made him a quick friend to anyone he met.”
