Cusumano

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cusumano is a Sicilian surname. Variant spellings include "Cusimano" and "Cusamano" (A variation found in Western Sicily). Cusumano is the spelling used in western Sicily and "Cosimano" is found in eastern Sicily. There are also many other variants that conform to a lot of known dialectal conventions of those parts of Sicily.

The surname comes from a personal name which de Felice suggests may be a fusion of two saints’ names: Cosma + Damiano, with a loss of the last syllable of one and the first of the other. Alternatively, Caracausi takes "Cusumano" to be a regional variant of the Late Greek personal name Kosmas (see Cosma) or a short form of an old personal name beginning with Kosm-. He also suggests that it could be derived from the Arabic "Quzman".

[edit] References

The name also means "to sew by hand", which could mean that the name was given to someone in the village that sewed.

[edit] Famous Cusumanos

Peter Cusumano

Peter Cusimano, was a Detroit native that owned a seafood store. He and his brother Jerry thought it would be good luck if they threw an Octupus on the ice at Olympia Arena during the 1952 playoffs. Since it took two sereis (8 games) to win the Stanley Cup and the octopus had eight legs (tentacles). Since then it has remained a Detroit Red Wing tradition during playoff games for fans to sneak in octupus and throw them on the ice.

Michael A. Cusumano

Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. He specializes in strategy, product development, and entrepreneurship in the software business. He received a B.A. degree from Princeton in 1976 and a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1984, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Production and Operations Management at the Harvard Business School during 1984-86. He is fluent in Japanese and has lived and worked in Japan for seven years. He has been a director of several public and private software companies, and has consulted for approximately 50 major corporations around the world, including Alcatel, AOL, AT&T, Business Objects, Cisco, Ericsson, Fiat, Telecom Italia, Ford, Fujitsu, General Electric, Fidelity, Hitachi, i2 Technologies, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Merrill Lynch, Motorola, NASA, NEC, Nokia, NorTel, Robert Bosch, Schlumberger, Siemens, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba. Professor Cusumano is the co-author of the international best-seller Microsoft Secrets (1995, with Richard Selby), which has been translated into 14 languages, as well as the top-10 Business Week book Competing on Internet Time: Lessons from Netscape and its Battle with Microsoft (1998, with David Yoffie). He has also published Platform Leadership: How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation (2002, with Annabelle Gawer); Thinking Beyond Lean: Multi-Project Management at Toyota and Other Companies (1998, with Kentaro Nobeoka); Strategic Thinking for the Next Economy (2001, with Costas Markides); Japan's Software Factories (1991); and The Japanese Automobile Industry (1985). His most recent book is The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and Survive, in Good Times and Bad.

Joseph Vincent Cusumano

Joseph Vincent Cusumano was identified as an organized crime associate In 1987 Cusumano was convicted of conspiracy, interstate travel in aid of racketeering and aiding and abetting. Four months after being listed in the Black Book, Cusumano survived a shooting at his home which was branded a "mob hit" by the local media. Cusumano resides in Las Vegas.

Jane Cusumano

In June of 2000, two years after putting her breast cancer in remission, Jane Cusumano founded Chateau Wally Films with her husband and businessman, James Cusumano. The mission of the company is to produce high-quality films that address human conditions and touch the hearts and souls of their audience. This venture was based on her success in screenplay writing, one of her deep passions over the last decade. With several scripts to her name, she completed one entitled What Matters Most (2001), which was written expressly with her daughter and actress, Polly Cusumano, in mind as one of the leads. Just one week before shooting began, Ms. Cusumano was informed that cancer had returned and had metastasized. Determined to fight this enemy again, and after consultation with her doctors, she set out for Texas to direct the film and simultaneously receive weekly chemotherapy in Amarillo. Ms. Cusumano was also determined to make this film experience a fun time for all involved, and even enlisted the participation of a number of other family members, in addition to her husband and daughter. Her sister has a small part and her sister-in-law, Donna Cusumano and her husband, who are documentary filmmakers, were on set documenting the making of What Matters Most (2001). This documentary focuses on the tenacity, determination and vision of a breast cancer patient simultaneously fighting for her life and pursuing her dream of making feature films. The film, in part, will be used to increase the public's awareness of the prevalence of breast cancer as well as a means of raising funds to support research to battle this disease. Jane, who was born November 11, 1954 was educated in the arts at several junior colleges in northern California. As an avid horse lover, she participated in a number of equestrian competitions. Ms. Cusumano also worked as an artist specializing in the oil portraits of famous multi-million dollar racehorses. Her paintings often sold for several thousands of dollars. She also developed a capability for older home restoration. After restoring a number of smaller homes, she and her husband purchased one built in Ojai, California in 1926 by the highly recognized architect, Wallace Neff. Neff was well known for designing and building homes in Los Angeles for such famous actors as Mary Pickford, the Marx brothers and Cary Grant among many others. The only other structures that he built in the Ojai Valley were horse stables for Edward Drummond Libbey, the glass magnate, and the original section of the world-famous Ojai Valley Inn & Spa. The Cusumano home, originally built by Neff as a 6,000 sq. ft. Mediterranean "getaway" for the Forbes family, is located on a scenic 4 1/2-acre horse and citrus ranch on the east end of the Ojai. In 1997, after purchasing the home from its third owner, Ms. Cusumano discovered that she had breast cancer. Despite her encounter with major surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, she worked for over 14 months as the general contractor for the restoration of the Neff house, which she named Chateau Wally after its architect. The home has been recognized by the Santa Barbara Historical Society, and has been quoted by Wallace Neff, Jr. as "the most accomplished restoration" of any of the surviving Neff homes. Sadly, on June 1, 2001, just four weeks after completing What Matters Most (2001), Jane passed away quietly in her husband's arms.