Growing up as an impoverished child in Southern Italy, Antonietta \u2018Toni\u2019 (Iannuzzi) Boucher \u201902 MBA never attended school. She and her brother were often left home alone, supervised by the family dog, while their parents worked in the fields. Her only toy was a \u201cdoll\u2019\u2019 consisting of a stone wrapped in one of her mother\u2019s dishtowels.<\/p>\n
At age 5, her family left their modest farmhouse, with its dirt floor, no running water, and no bathroom, and embarked on a new life in America.<\/p>\n
What was to be a seven-day journey aboard the ship Saturnia took twice as long, as the vessel was struck by a massive storm in the middle of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurbulent waves and howling winds tossed our enormous vessel like a toy,\u2019\u2019 Boucher recalled in her new autobiography titled \u2018Stone Doll: An Immigrant\u2019s Memoir from War-Torn Italy to the American Dream.\u2019 \u201cMy mother fell deathly ill, and I too succumbed to a terrible sickness. We lay bedridden in our windowless, darkened cabin, unable to eat or sleep as lightning cracked overhead.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my misery, I yearned for our small country farm nestled between the villages of Ponte and Casalduni, deep in the Italian countryside,\u2019\u2019 she wrote. \u201c\u2018Please, oh please, take me back,\u2019 I whispered into my mother\u2019s ear. But she could only groan in response, too ill to offer comfort.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
That treacherous journey was one step in changing the path of Boucher\u2019s life. Once in the U.S., she became a driven and successful business woman, earned an MBA at UConn, raised three children, and became a leader in the Connecticut legislature for 22 years. <\/p>\n
Boucher, one of the School of Business\u2019 most important alumni benefactors and the undergraduate commencement speaker this spring, has long been a champion of entrepreneurship, student opportunity, and the power of a business education to change lives. <\/p>\n
The Boucher Management & Entrepreneurship Department is named in honor of Toni Boucher and her late husband, Bud Boucher, in appreciation for the family\u2019s $8 million gift to the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea for this book was about inspiring people with similar backgrounds or stories. If someone like me can make it, there is hope for many,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cMine is like a million immigrant stories\u2026except for the ending.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cToni\u2019s story speaks powerfully to what a great public business school can do,\u2019\u2019 said Greg Reilly, interim dean. \u201cShe came to this country as a child immigrant and built an extraordinary life through education and perseverance, and never forgot the role that learning played in opening doors for her. That is one reason her example resonates so deeply with our students.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Boucher enrolled in elementary school in Naugatuck, Conn., and struggled for years to learn English. Back then there was no formal tutoring for non-English speakers. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy initial experience with American education was nothing short of traumatic. Until the fourth grade, I didn\u2019t speak a word of English, leaving me utterly lost in the classroom,\u2019\u2019 Boucher wrote. \u201cEveryone, including my teaches, assumed I was unintelligent\u2026I was left to sink or swim on my own.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
It fostered in her a deep empathy for those who struggle to learn. Her father was a laborer who worked three jobs, six days a week, to support his family. He impressed upon Toni, and her brother Guy, that education is everything. He harbored a deep respect and admiration for well-educated people. <\/p>\n
\u201cStreet-smart and highly intuitive, he longed for the knowledge that circumstances had denied him,\u2019\u2019 Boucher wrote. \u201cHe drilled into me every day from a young age, \u201cEducation is everything; it is the way out of poverty and the path to freedom.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
She recognizes that same fire in many of UConn\u2019s students.<\/p>\n
Boucher pursued her undergraduate degree at American University in a time of anti-Vietnam war protests, women\u2019s liberation, and civil rights struggles. The Mall in Washington D.C. was host to demonstrations, hippies, peace signs, and bell-bottom jeans. Her classmates included a Formula One race car driver and the son of a Kuwaiti oil minister. <\/p>\n
Boucher went on to have successful careers at the Westin Hotel Group, GE\u2019s Plastics Engineering Division, Commonfund investments, and ultimately in the Connecticut Legislature. Today she is the First Selectwoman of Wilton, Conn.<\/p>\n
What was the common thread that tied those experiences together? \u201cTo survive in the world you have to learn and pivot,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
Woven through most of Boucher\u2019s story is the love and admiration she has for her husband, Bud. The two met while working summer jobs at Burger King. He was a student at St. Michael\u2019s College, dreaming of joining the Air Force and becoming a pilot. Their love story spanned 50 years\u2014and at times across different countries– and he asked Toni to marry him five times before she said yes.<\/p>\n
Bud sold his Camaro to buy Toni a wedding ring and when they married they \u201cdidn\u2019t have two pennies to rub together,\u2019\u2019 she recalled.<\/p>\n
Bud became a successful management consultant and financial analyst, but throughout his adult life he had a \u201cpersistent, inextinguishable entrepreneurial drive.\u201d His ideas ranged from flipping real-estate to developing unique consumer goods and creating medical devices.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe learned that having a good idea wasn\u2019t enough,\u2019\u2019 Toni Boucher recalled. \u201cYou needed the right partners, sufficient capital, perfect timing, and skill in implementing out-of-the-box strategies. But his enthusiasm for new ventures never dimmed. If anything, each setback seemed to fuel his determination to find the next opportunity.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was my shining example of persistence, always persevering against all odds. It was what both frustrated me and made me love him even more,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cIn my heart I knew I needed to do whatever I could to keep him going and not allow him to let go of his dream.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Reilly, who has known Toni Boucher for years, said the family is inspirational for aspiring business creators. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor Toni and Bud, entrepreneurship was never just an academic subject. It was personal,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cThey understood that building something meaningful requires courage, persistence, and a willingness to keep going when success is far from guaranteed. Their investment in UConn helps us teach students those same lessons.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n
The School\u2019s entrepreneurship ecosystem\u2014including programs that give students hands-on experience evaluating ventures, solving real-world problems and building professional confidence\u2014reflect the kind of practical, opportunity-oriented dedication that Toni Boucher has long championed, Reilly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe believes deeply in entrepreneurship, innovation and the idea that students should leave UConn ready not just to understand business but to build, lead and contribute,\u2019\u2019 he said. She wants them to learn as much about entrepreneurship as they can in the safety of an academic environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the great privileges of working at UConn is watching students grow into versions of themselves they may not fully imagine,\u2019\u2019 Reilly said. \u201cIn that sense, Toni\u2019s story is singular, but it also reflects something deeply familiar to us: the transformative power of education, opportunity, and perseverance.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Eventually, Bud would see his dream come true. Just after the couples\u2019 50th wedding anniversary he had a \u2018financial miracle.\u2019 He had purchased many shares of a company that he was able to resell for more than 80,000 times the original investment. <\/p>\n
The couples\u2019 joy was quickly overshadowed when Bud sensed there was something wrong with his health. He was diagnosed with leukemia, and died soon afterward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt deep sorrow and deep gratitude,\u2019\u2019 Toni Boucher said. \u201cIf I was lucky enough to find that once-in-a-lifetime relationship, my soulmate and the love of my life, then I had to stop feeling sorry for myself.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cMy responsibility, as I saw it–and continue to see it–was to create a meaningful legacy for someone who had worked tirelessly, endured pain and suffering to the point where he probably damaged his health, and always stayed true to his goal. I wanted his entrepreneurial spirit to be an inspiration to a wide group of people.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, Bud had kept his promise to take care of me, in a bigger way than either of us could have ever imagine. Nevertheless, I\u2019d give every penny back to have Bud smiling at me over a plate of pasta, or holding my hand as we both sat on the sofa and watched a UConn basketball game.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Stone Doll\u2019 is Boucher\u2019s second book in a year. The first, titled \u201cThe Husky Effect: How UConn is Creating the Entrepreneurs of the Future,\u2019\u2019 focuses on how entrepreneurship education is taught at UConn. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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