This Alumnus Profile is really an Alumni Profile as it is the story about four La Salle Academy graduates, all of whom are related and all of whom wound up working in the same business.

Anthony Baglini ‘65, is a Worcester Polytechnic Institute educated engineer who credits his La Salle Academy years for “burning the learning process into my mind and that, as much as, if not more than my WPI years, has been invaluable in making my business succeed.”

His business is Brassworks, a company that provides, installs and services architectural hardware, fireplaces and bath accessories.  The 1965 La Salle grad built the unique business into a powerhouse that services high-end builders, designers and architects, as well as very discriminating homeowners.

“The ability to connect with people, especially discriminating clients that can afford these products, comes from the liberal arts education that I received at La Salle,” said Anthony, a four-year letterman in band and orchestra at La Salle.  “I also attribute my fascination with the proper use of grammar and spelling, which is necessary in any business, to my year of freshman Latin at La Salle.  To this day, I surprise myself when I recognize phrases from classical literature.  At the time, I couldn’t see the point but it has served me well.”

Turning to Brassworks, Anthony, who works with his wife, son and three cousins, said, “We are literally a mom and pop operation that thrives based on our total dedication to service excellence.  This service focus makes us a valuable resource to the customer that is seldom found at typical product distributors or internet providers.  We take full responsibility for a hardware or fireplace package, from initial design specification through final punch list, assigning project managers and offering expert installation.”

“My three Tanzi cousins, Mark, David and Paul came to work for me strictly by chance, and now we have more than seventy-five years of collective professional experience,” said Anthony.  “We have carved out a unique position in this trade as we not only provide product, but perhaps more importantly, we take full responsibility for managing the entire hardware package, from initial design specification through installation and subsequent service.”

Asked how he got started in the brass business, Anthony said that coming out of WPI he knew that he wanted to be an engineer.  “I was fascinated with electrical things,” said the holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.  “Right out of college I got a job working on semiconductors for NASA in Cambridge but got laid off in less than a year when the program stopped.

I was up in New Hampshire on a bit of a vacation and saw an old brass bed in an antique shop that needed to be repaired. I bought it for $10, polished it up and sold it for $100.  I quickly figured out that I could do pretty well finding, repairing and selling antiques.  I did and within three months I opened an antique store in Somerville, Massachusetts.” 

“I taught myself how to polish, finish and repair brass,” Anthony continued.  “I went to New York City and found brass reproduction pieces to take the place of finding antiques to sell and thought to myself, I can make brass beds too – they were very popular in the late 70s and throughout the 1980s.  And with that, in 1980, I founded Brassworks.  We took on prestigious line of candlesticks which also made brass locks but I was told that Brassworks didn’t look like the right shop to sell hardware.”  That soon changed, as Brassworks now displays over 500 different doorknobs and over 2,000 different cabinet knobs.

“About 20 years ago someone asked if we could get a brass and glass fireplace door and that was our entry into the fireplace business – and it was the first fireplace store in Providence,” said Anthony.  “Then a customer wanted gas logs and we tried that but it went badly.  We made it right for that customer and learned a lot from that experience. It took a while but we built a good business in logs, doors and fireplaces.  The key is to find a need and fill it.”

Reflecting on his 30 years in the business, Anthony said that recently the luxury market took a bad rap.  “There’s something of a national backlash for luxury items as unnecessary and ostentatious,” he said.  “But our products are not frivolous or extravagant.  Indeed, they are built to last for decades and more.  In a throw-away society, we are proud of what we make and sell.”

What they make and sell has been featured in Southern New England Homemagazine in articles that speak to the unique niche that Brassworks fills.  One article covers the restoration of a home on Benefit Street in Providence in which the owners demanded the recreation of period pieces – work that only Brassworks could accomplish.  Another article presents a cross section of the products that Brassworks manufactures or supplies.  To read the articles and click here and here.

“Think about the great mansions throughout the United States.  People respect and revere mansions,” said the former high school saxophone player turned guitarist who now still plays in a country band as a hobby. “Those are the people with whom we deal.  That is the level of our clientele.  It is a great business and we have managed to remain completely unique in today’s copycat chain stores.

In a final comment, Anthony turned once more to La Salle.

“Here we are in a successful business not more than a couple of miles down the street from where my cousins I and went to high school,” he said.  “It is hard to imagine that I got that great start for only $150 a semester.”

Mark Tanzi ’82 is the general manager of Brassworks.  He has been in that position since 1991 when his cousin Anthony called him “out of the blue and asked if he wanted to do something new?”   With almost no hesitation, Mark left the Submarine Signal Division at Raytheon in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and left behind his five years with the giant company and the 50-minute commute each way.

“The idea of working with my cousin appealed to me,” said the holder of a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree from Boston University where he roomed for four years with Joe Villanova, a close friend from La Salle who graduated with a degree in biomedical engineer.  “Among other things, there is a good deal of custom fabrication and design work that we are involved with daily, that matches my engineering background.  We constantly push and expand the limits of the business, and that is the exciting part.  We are not merely a product supplier; we manage entire aspects of each project, from initial design concepts through final installation.  We do it all."

Mark pointed out that Brassworks has been the vendor of choice to many high-profile jobs in New England. “We did the restoration of all the antique light fixtures at our Rhode Island State House, the fabrication of many ornamental bronze items at the Ledyard casinos, and the procurement/installation of high-end architectural hardware and fireplaces at countless Rhode Island institutions such as local universities, hotels, and exclusive private residences.  We are challenged in our diversity, to say the least."

“I don’t sit still,” said the father of two girls, Angelina, 8 and Julianna, 6.  “The base of the business is solid but like any successful organization, we have to be continuously improving and evolving.  To that end, we added the fireplace showroom, and we now manufacture a bath product that is distributed nationally; both of these departments have become an integral part of our business."

The discussion turned to La Salle as Mark recalled his years at the school.

“Brother Robert Hazard was the principal and my track coach was Mr. Curtin,” said the former La Salle Freshman Athlete of the Year who ran cross country as well as indoor and outdoor track.  “I remember Brother Ralph Darmento who taught freshman algebra.  As a result of his class I came to love math and did well in it throughout my schooling – high school and college.  I also remember my Italian teacher, Brother John Ayres.”

“Our class of 1982 was good group and about a dozen of us get together relatively often.  We always get together for a Memorial Day picnic,” said Mark.  “Bill Fazioli has been putting that together ever since we got out of school.  When Bill got married after college, David Quinn organized a bachelor party for him, and close to fifty La Salle grads attended, from all over New England...a great example of our enduring high school camaraderie."

Mark talked about growing up a Chatham Street in Providence and the fact that his grandmother owned a dry goods store as well as other properties.  "Her good business sense was passed down to the family.  She was a successful business person during the depression and after; an inspiring woman before her time, possessing deep faith and an unwavering sense of family."

He also talked about his infinitely patient wife Luanne who he met in junior high school.  “We met in junior high but I did not see her again until 1986,” he said.  “Then we dated for 14 years before finally getting married in 2000.  She is a great wife and committed mother...and very patient."

At age 46, Mark is the youngest of the Tanzi brothers and sisters.  Paul, 56, is the oldest followed by David who is 55, then Laura and Mary Ellen and then Mark.

“"We are a pretty large extended clan numbering nearly 50,” he said.  “But we remain close and we get together twice a year – once at Christmas and once in the summer.”

Mark concluded with some final thoughts about La Salle.

“I took my daughters to the La Salle open house just to see it again,” he said.  “I have not been actively involved but the friends I made at La Salle are friends for life and we always find time to get together.  The years I spent at La Salle were wonderful, for many reasons.  It was not simply ‘school’-- it was an experience that is with me to this day."

David Tanzi ’73 joined his brothers and cousin at Brassworks as an assistant manager after 27 years with Texas Instruments – nearly all those years in the TI Attleboro, Massachusetts facility – where he was an operations manager in manufacturing and tooling.

“I have very fond memories of my years with Texas Instruments.  I went to work for them right out of Boston University where I earned a Master of Science degree in Bio-Medical Engineering in 1977,” said David in an interview in the midst of fireplaces at the Brassworks office and show room.  “When they closed the Attleboro facilities, I was offered a position with TI in Arizona and I was there for 13 months before coming home to Rhode Island and going to work with Brassworks.”

The conversation turned to La Salle and David spoke about being in awe of Brother Timothy Rapa.  “I remember assemblies in the auditorium where we would be talking among ourselves and there would be a din of chatter but as soon as Brother Timothy walked in, there was total silence,” he said.  “I also remember having one or two math classes with Mr. McNamara and I can still hear him saying ‘analysis is the precursor to calculus’”.

“I played in the band and remember Brother Alphonsus, the band moderator, as an imposing personality in my young teenage life,” said David who was in the stage band, the marching band and the orchestra.  “The band was invited to march in the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington, D.C.  I remember walking up the stairs of the Washington Monument.  We marched in Philadelphia and made an annual trip to Manchester, New Hampshire for a parade.  One year it was so cold in Manchester when we arrived that we were given the option of not marching but we chose to march.”

Speaking of marching, David said that he recalls that he and his brother Paul (who was one year ahead of David at La Salle) walked to school every day but that when Mark came along many years later, “he got a ride to school every day – a symbol of how soft the baby of the family had it.”

Asked how a musician wound up in engineering, David said that it was at La Salle when a teacher offered a non-credit class in the auditorium during a free period – non-Euclidean geometry – and David was taken by it.  “It was totally non-traditional and has no application but it makes one think and it was the spark that sent me into engineering,” he said.

Talking about his years at Boston University, David spoke of missing only one Red Sox opening day at Fenway.  “I went to every opening day of my years at BU – freshman, sophomore and junior but not my senior year because that day I had an interview with Texas Instruments.  It was a good thing that I went to the interview and got hired because that is where I met my wife, Cynthia.  We married after five years of dating,” said David.  “We have been married 25 years and have two daughters, Rachel and Stephanie and a son, Nicholas – all of whom have gone or are going to URI.”

Asked about how things are doing at Brassworks given the economy, David said that they remain busy.  “We are blessed with what Anthony and Mark have done in developing, retaining and attracting customers, most of whom are residential property owners,’ he said.  “We deal with people who are working with designers and architects – people who are looking for high quality.”

Paul Tanzi ’72 is the oldest of the three Tanzi brothers who work at Brassworks with their cousin Anthony Baglini ‘65 and he was the last of the three to join the company where he holds the title of Inventory Control Manager.

“I had been at Brown University doing biological research for the five years prior to joining Brassworks,” said Paul in an interview in front of one of Brassworks elegant fireplace models.  “Initially it was part time but it was not too long before I came on full time, dealing primarily with shipping and receiving, inventory control and the many displays we have here.”

“We have three distinct business areas – hardware, Fireplace and Palmer Supply which primarily deals with bathroom fixtures including the manufacture of special-order pieces,” said Paul.

Asked about the family connection between the Tanzi clan and Anthony, Paul said that Anthony’s recently deceased mother is the sister of the Tanzi brothers’ mother and that the two sisters used to live together in North Providence.  Speaking further about relatives, Paul said that his two sisters are married with families and live in North Kingstown.  He, as with his brother Mark, says that the extended families get together at least twice a year and enjoy each other’s company.

Speaking about his La Salle years Paul talked about having Brother Alphonsus for Home Room and recalled achieving All-State status in Band.

“I loved my four years at La Salle, they were the best four years of my life in large part due to being in the band,” continued Paul.  “Music was my primary reason for going to La Salle and while our band moderator, Brother Alphonsus, put the fear of God in me, I loved him.  Our band sounded as good as a top-notch military band of an early era as well as those known in the late 60s and early 70s.  I initially played clarinet  and then gravitated to saxophone.  My younger brother David, who was a year behind me, followed me in everything and soon he was in the band.”

“I remember having Mr. McNamara for a calculus class and Mr. Cerra for biology and Mr. Ciuryla for chemistry – all of them were excellent teachers,” said Paul, who achieved perfect attendance in all four years, while my brother David missed only one day.  “I was a pretty good baseball player but I couldn’t try out because Brother Alphonsus would not allow any band members to play sports because we had band practice from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day.”

“My mother says to this day that the proudest moment of her life was when her first son – me – graduated from La Salle Academy,” said the eldest Tanzi son whose career before Brassworks and before Brown University included Crosby Valve in Wrentham, Massachusetts and Hasbro in Rhode Island where he said he had fun working with toys.  “Turning back to Brassworks, it has been great working with my brothers and my cousin.  The camaraderie makes it very special.”

 To read more about Brassworks, go to http://brassworksblog.com/