Occupation: I am a private conservator of paintings. I used to work at the National Gallery in DC and then I went off on my own. I do a wide range of things, from cleaning of paintings to more complicated processes of removing yellowed, varnished areas of paintings, to structural areas, where you have to fill in lost areas and “inpainting” lost areas to match the original. I get damaged paintings and torn paintings that need relining. And I have been PTA president at Reed Intermediate School for the last two years.

Family: I live with my partner, M.J. Wheble and we have two kids, Paolo, who is a sixth grader at RIS, and Anna, who is 6 years old and in kindergarten at Fraser-Woods School.

Pets: No pets right now. We travel so much. We are looking to get a dog, eventually.

How long have you lived in Newtown? We have been here seven years.

What do you do in your free time? I love cooking and baking. I was a competitive squash player so I play squash when I can and now I’m playing tennis again. I love movies, too. We go as often as we can and we do like Net-Flix.

Do you have a favorite cookbook author? I love the writings of Laurie Colwin. She wrote a sort of prose book with recipes. I read different cookbooks and because I don’t really follow recipes, I kind of distill from all of the different recipes. I also admire Craig Claiborne and Jamie Oliver, for his simplicity.

Where is your favorite travel destination? We travel to Italy or France every year. We love Italy. We speak Italian at home. We have a place on the Mediterranean in Italy, so we go there. It’s this amazingly beautiful place. My brother lives in Paris, so we like to visit him there.

What is the best thing about Newtown? I’d have to say that in this period where we are trying to get a playground built for RIS and the community, it’s heartening how many people have been so receptive. It’s a very proactive community. I’d like it to be a little more diverse, but it’s overall a lovely town.

If you could spend a day with anyone, who would that be? Probably Eleanor Roosevelt. She was living in this hard moment in our history, sort of at the cusp of World War II and the new age of social changes. I think she was instrumental in laying the foundation for a number of things, which we are the beneficiaries of .

What effort in your life have you been most proud of? Besides the effort of raising two children who will hopefully contribute positively to society, I would say I am most proud of my tenure in the PTA working with all of the students, parents and teachers to realize our goal of building this playground. We have raised nearly $50,000 and need another $15,000. Our fundraising efforts are culminating with the dinner/dance/auction on March 31. We hope to see the first of two phases installed by the end of April.

Do you have personal philosophy? One, since my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s I’ve come to appreciate the term “Carpe Diem.” Life is fleeting. Try to capture what is great about every day. Two, treat other people the way I would like to be treated, with respect and dignity. Also, always approach things with a sense of humor. George Bernard Shaw said, “I want to die young as late as possible.” I’ve always loved that quote.