Occupation: I’m retired now. I spent 30 years in engineering and then support services for a biotech company that was originally Perkin-Elmer. Of late, I was elected president of the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library. It’s a group of the most dedicated people I’ve ever seen. It’s really a nice mix of people.

Family: My wife, Sharon; and my daughter Alisa, who is married to Dennis. We have a granddaughter, Rachel, who is 9 years old already. They just moved to Livonia, N.Y.

Pets: We have two cats that adopted us five or six years ago, Boo and Latte. We have another stray cat that visits us occasionally, when he’s hungry. And lately, we have a disabled deer that we feed apples to.

How long have you lived in Newtown? We’ve lived in Sandy Hook for 32 years.

What do you like to do in your free time? Well, as president and member of Friends of the C.H. Booth Library, we sort through probably 200,000 books a year, and we sell online through Amazon. Friends supports the Library with over $100,000 in funds each year, and we provide the staff with money for the Vision Project, too. I play golf a couple of days a week, spring through fall, and tennis, too. I have volunteered with Canine Advocates walking dogs, and we like to travel. And I do read!

Do you have a favorite author? I like T.C. Boyle and I have read quite a bit by E.L. Doctorow, too. For just getting away from things, I like Carl Hiaasen, and Bill Bryson for comedy. A book that moved me a lot was Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom. That was a super book.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? We own a home in the Caribbean, on the island of Nevis, and we usually go there each year for a good period of time. We did a railroad trip from Amsterdam to Rome a year ago that was great, lots of stops along the way, including the Amalfi Coast, which is beautiful. We’re doing a river cruise this coming summer from Budapest to Germany. That should be fun. And we do trips locally, too.

What is the best thing about Newtown? A lot of it is the people. I know it seems cliché, but when you deal with people, like at the library book sale, you’re dealing with people who are happy and smiley. At the book sale, and the people I’ve met through Canine Advocates, everyone is fun. People are really wonderful. We’ve also got one of the best libraries in the state. The new animal shelter is great. There are a lot of groups in town that support things and follow their passions. The dog pound and the dog park are just two examples.

Who has been the greatest influence in your life? What you learn from your parents, your wife, and your kids in your life influences you, of course. People influence your life, but events do, as well. In 2006, on Martha’s Vineyard, I was in a serious scooter accident. I was helicoptered to the mainland, and home recuperating for six months. I realized that life is short. An event like that can impact your life. I retired six months later and started doing more of what I wanted and volunteering.

Do you have a personal philosophy? Getting there is half the fun, in a sense, I’ve found. All the work you put into a job to succeed, all of that is more interesting than when you finally achieve it; the same with sports: it’s acquiring the skill that’s fun. You can probably put that in almost any scenario.

Do you have a guilty pleasure? One I have is Philly cheesesteaks. I spent four years in a school just outside of Philadelphia, and they were my favorite. There is a place called Eli Cannon’s in Middletown that has a pretty good one, but they’re hard to find. And since I’m a Jersey guy, Taylor pork roll is my other guilty pleasure. In Jersey, you can get it on pizza; you can put it on sandwiches or whatever. Then I discovered that Caraluzzi’s in Bethel and Newtown sells it, so I’m a happy guy. It’s pretty fatty, so it’s not something you want to eat every day. I look forward to it, though, since it’s infrequent.