Early Life

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Iacocca: The Early Years

Lido (Lee) Anthony Iacocca was born on October 15, 1924.  His father, Nicola, arrived in 1902 at the age of twelve. Nicola lived briefly in Garrett, Pennsylvania with his stepbrother before settling with his brother in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

In 1921, Nicola returned to Italy, to bring his widowed mother to America, and on the trip, met and married his wife, Antoinette, in Italy.

The child of Italian immigrants in a region populated almost entirely by the Pennsylvania Dutch, Iacocca endured some teasing and was a victim of bigotry. However, he excelled in school as a child, particularly on the debating team. He came down with rheumatic fever in 1939, making a full recovery after spending six months in bed. The time was beneficial, as he became a voracious reader. The illness also made him ineligible for military service, which prevented him from enlisting in December 1941.

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Yocco's Menus

His family was tied to the region, establishing several local food service businesses throughout the Lehigh Valley. Believing that the food business would provide the family with a steady income, his father founded the Orpheum Wiener House, which survived the Great Depression. One of these businesses, Yocco’s, founded by Lee Iacocca’s uncle Theodore in 1922, remains in business today, in not only its original Allentown location, but in six other regional locations. The name “Yocco’s” is a modified form of Iacocca, which the local Pennsylvania-German population found difficult to pronounce.

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Comus. William Allen High School (Allentown, Pa.). 1942.

Lee Iacocca graduated from Allentown High School, now known as William Allen High School, in 1942.  He signed this yearbook for his classmate Margaret Ann Ward.

On Loan from the Collection of John Misinco, ‘05 BA, ‘06 MA

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Lee A. Iacocca.  Iacocca, an Autobiography. With William Novak. Toronto; New York: Bantam Books, 1984.

Lee Iacocca wrote this autobiography, his first book in 1984.  In addition to detailing his academic, professional and philanthropic experience, it revealed personal information about his parents, childhood, and early schooling.  

It was extremely successful. By July of 1985, two million copies in 36 printings had been produced, or atsa July 17, 1985 New York Times Article proclaimed: “Two Millionth ‘Iacocca’ to Roll Off the Assembly Line Today”.