Nunzio Pernicone, of Newtown, PA died on Thursday, May 30, 2013, at Jefferson University Hospital. He was 72.

He was the beloved husband of 30 years to Christine Zervos.

Born in Manhattan, NY, he was the son of the late Salvatore and Rose Consolazione Pernicone. He grew up in New York City.

Dr. Pernicone was a distinguished member of the Department of History and Politics of Drexel University for 25 years, having previously taught at Columbia University (1969-1975) and the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (1975-1980) and at other schools in New York City in the 1980s. He was appointed Professor Emeritus at Drexel in 2013.

His publication record was substantial, primarily in the areas of the history of 19th and 20th century anarchism and anti-fascism. His scholarly work includes five published books; twenty-four articles, encyclopedia, and dictionary entries, plus many book reviews in prominent historical journals.

Perhaps his most well-known books were Italian Anarchism, 1864-1892 (Princeton University Press, 1993) and Carlo Tresca: Portrait of a Rebel (Palgrave, 2005). He also wrote extensively on the impact and historical interpretation of the Sacco and Vanzetti case — one of the defining moments in American politics of the 1920s.

Dr. Pernicone had on many occasions participated as an expert historian for film, TV and radio documentaries and broadcasts. He contributed 50 scholarly papers at academic conferences and other venues. And, he was the editor of the journal Italian Americana from 2004-2007.

He won prestigious grants and fellowships, including a Fulbright Fellowship in Italy (1967-1969), an American Philosophical Society grant (1973), an American Council for Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship (1974-1975), a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (1974-1975), which he declined in order to accept the ACLS Fellowship, and the Dominic Massaro Prize for the year’s best article in the journal Italian Americana (1999). In 2000 he co-wrote a proposal which resulted in a $10,000 grant from the Italian Government to catalogue the A. William Salomone Collection, which was donated to Drexel. This was a select collection of books on 19th and 20th century Italian political history.

Dr. Pernicone taught 15 different courses at Drexel, mostly in the areas of 19th and 20th century history. He was recognized as a thoughtful and effective teacher who had mentored countless undergraduate students, teaching them to rigorously apply historical methods to understand the world in which they live. He made many strong service contributions to his department. He was the Academic Curator of the A. William Salomone Collection between 1991 and 2009. He organized five conferences at Drexel under the aegis of the Salomone Collection. He also served on many departmental and college committees.

In addition to his wife and his career, the most important things in Dr. Pernicone’s life were opera and his five cats.

At his request, services will be private.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to Morris Animal Refuge, 1242 Lombard St., Phila., PA 19147

www.morrisanimalrefuge.org or Animal Legal Defense Fund, 170 East Cotati Ave., Cotati, CA 94931, www.aldf.org