Snapshot: Andrew Buzzi Jr

Family: My wife Michele; and our children, Harrison, Rachel and Andrew.

How long have you lived in Newtown? Since 1996. I grew up in Georgetown though, so I went to Weston schools and used to come to Newtown all the time. We had horses, and Newtown was the equestrian center of Connecticut. We also, in school, used to play Newtown all the time.

Career: I’m an attorney. I have an office in Danbury, with a few paralegals and a great lawyer who has been practicing with me for a few years and soon will be a partner.

What did you want to be when you grew up? A lawyer. Interestingly enough, when I was in school I read The Devil and Daniel Webster. It’s a great classic story and after reading that I said, “That’s it. I want to be a lawyer.”

What do you like to do in your free time? I have a Jeep and like to go on off-roading expeditions with my best friend who I’ve known since we were teenagers, who also lives in Newtown. I also love cooking. I have a stressful job and I’m Italian — we love our food. I love to come home, prep everything, and put everything together.

Are you involved in any clubs, organizations, committees and/or communities of faith? My wife and I are active on the Republican Town Committee and with governmental and local affairs in Newtown. We try to help our community. We’re also active members of St Rose.

What was the most recent movie you saw in the theater? Top Gun: Maverick.

Favorite actor? Frank Langella.

Favorite book? The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Favorite author? J.R.R. Tolkien, although I also like Erik Larson. He writes some terrific books.

Pet peeves? People lacking courtesy and respect. It’s so necessary for us to be able to have a civil society and as I’ve spoken many times, many meetings, how important it is for people to be able to disagree. I really believe in our system, where everyone has the right to speak. Everybody has the right to be heard. After everyone has had the chance to speak, then we vote, and that is how we govern ourselves. We have to respect however the vote comes out.

Favorite color? Blue.

What is your proudest achievement? My kids, no question. I have three lovely, charitable, helpful, decent human beings for children.

If you could spend the day with one person, living or deceased, who would you choose and why? Thomas Jefferson. He’s one of the architects of our government, one of the people who had such an incredibly serious influence on how we deal with each other. If you go to the Library of Congress, where they have his book collection, and you look at the spines of those books, you see this variety of topics that Thomas Jefferson mastered. And the languages — the books are not all in English — Greek, Latin, French. He knew all of those languages. He was worldly. He was the Leonardo DaVinci of our time. He and others were so learned. They didn’t create our government off the top of their heads. You can’t do that unless you’re educated. I have a lot of questions for him.

What is your favorite thing about Newtown? I love the history surrounding Newtown — Rochambeau, the Battle of Ridgefield, Danbury, our Colonial history, all these things I love reading about. I also love being able to live in a town where we have people who have so many different ideas and views, and to be able to engage with them and try to work together to make it a better place. I’ve developed relationships with so many people after working on boards with many of them – Charter Revision and Board of Education among them. Setting end goals, even with different ideas on how to get there — the goal is way more important than the journey.

Do you have a personal credo? Respect. Honor. Courage. Faith.