Luigi "Gino" DiScipio , age 68 of Medford, died Sunday in the Epoch Senior Health Care Center of Melrose. Mr. DiScipio was born in Canosa Sannita, Italy, the son of the late Antonio and the late Teresa (DiFabio) DiScipio. Mr. DiScipio died following a brief illness. He was a Medford resident for twenty-six years formerly of Malden. He was born in the small town of Canosa Sannita, Italy in 1934. Gino was orphaned when his father was killed in military action during WWII and his mother died as a casualty of the same war. He was helped by a childless couple that fed him when they could and gave him the occasional place to sleep.
During this horrific time as war ravaged the the town he lived in, Gino was apprenticed at the age of 7 to a local tailor. He kept up his apprenticeship through battles and bombing raids. One day after school on his way to his work Gino was caught in a firefight between the Germans and the Partisans and was shot. He survived his wounds and later returned to his apprenticeship.
At the age of 16 having already gained a reputation as a celebrated tailor he knew he wanted more so he headed north to Genova, Italy. In Genova he went he went to work for the distinquished design house Satoria Reale Orazio Milano and enrolled in the prestigous design school, SolTecnica di Torino. This is where he met, fell in ,love with and married his wife of 47 years, Rolanda. Gino graduated with high honors and great praise from the faculty of SolTecnica di Torino. Before Gino could start his career as a designer he followed his father´s footsteps and went into the military. There he served as a machine gunner and communications expert. Gino served for two tours of duty and was recognized as a fine military man.
When Gino left the military he was welcomed back to Sartoria Reale as a clothing designer. In 1964 the quadrennial International Designing Competition was held in Milan, Italy. To enter the competition a designer had to be sponsored by a design house. Sartoria Reale had chosen someone else in their design house to sponsor but fortunately, a rival house, Sartoria Cameranesi, had no one they felt could represent them and therefore asked Gino to represent them in the competition. The competition consisted of each contestant being placed in a room with cloth, tools, and supplies. No One could enter or leave the room the contestants were in. This was to keep someone from helping the contestant. For five days the contestants had to draw designs, make the patterns for the designs, then cut the cloth and put their finished product together, a completed suit. At the end of five days Gino was the winner of two gold medallions. The Gold Iron Award, and the San Bonomo Award for the best technical design, the best original design, the best finished product, and the best complete outfits, sweeping an unprecedented four awards. Many design houses came calling but Gino, being of independent spirit, started his own design house. In 1965 Gino, Rolanda, and their first three children came to America. Here Gino went to work for Grieco Brothers Clothing factory in Lawrence.
In 1969 Gino and Rolanda started their own business, Design by Gino. Many celebrities came to see Gino for his exceptional designs and talents as a tailor. Among those were Rick Wise of the Boston Red Sox, Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins, Clarence Glover of the Boston Celtics, Dick Stockton TV Sports announcer and Kirk Douglas the actor. There were also many local politicians , businessmen and celebreties to numerous to name. In 1992 he went to work designing clothes for Freudenberg International, a German Company with plants throughout the world. Here Gino designed clothes renowned all over the world for their innovation and elegance.
He was honored in 1998 in Milan, Italy the sight of his triumphant sweep of designing awards 38 years ago. The International Association of Clothing Designers recognized Gino as one of our times greatest designers. There he was bestowed the title Maestro by such design houses as Joseph Aboud, Armani, Canali, Calvin Klein, and Zegna. Then in 2002 Gino was again honored. This time Frankfurt University granted Gino a Doctorate Degree in Technical Design again recognizing his expertise and contributions to clothing design over the past 40 years.
Gino is survived by his beloved wife Rolanda (Visentini). His four children, Marco of Malden, Simonetta Cordima, Susanna Cortese both of Medford and Sandra Giglio of Malden. Also survived by nine loving grandchildren and a sister, Anna DiScipio of Italy. A memorial mass will be celebrated in St. James Church 779 Fellsway Medford, Saturday at 9 AM. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend. Services will conclude with entombment at Holy Cross Chapel Mausoleum, Malden. It has been requested that in lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made in Gino’s memory to the Italian Liver Foundation, Via Maragliano 56/a Firenze, Italy 50144.