The Reverend Doctor Nicholas John Tavani, Sr., 81, died peacefully at home in Altadena, California, on July 15, 2006. With him at the time of death was his beloved wife, Naomi J. Tavani (née Spinosi), a retired management consultant who pioneered specialization in consulting medical professionals. This past June 24th they celebrated 55 years of marriage, modeling for many the meaning of love of husband and wife.
With his wife, Dr. Tavani had three sons.
The oldest, Dr. Nicholas J. Tavani, Jr., is a family physician living in Haymarket, VA, with his wife, Donna, and their six sons – Nicholas, Michael, Stephen, Daniel, Matthew, and Jonathan. Their second son is Stephen D. Tavani, a dynamic urban missionary living in Altadena, CA with his wife, Linda, and their two daughters – Sierra and Nicola. The youngest son, Craig R. Tavani, is a consultant in human services living in Phoenixville, PA with his wife, Tine, and their three children – Vincent, Marcus, and Sonia.
A Clinical Sociologist specializing in Marriage and the Family,
Dr. Tavani lectured and wrote extensively, particularly on the subject of love as a multi-splendored tetra-compound phenomenon. He was associate professor emeritus at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, having taught sociology there from 1969 when he came to develop the school’s sociology program until his retirement in 2000; with Dr. Rutledge M. Dennis, he created the Tau Chapter of Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honor Society at George Mason University. Throughout his tenure at George Mason, the primary course taught by Dr. Tavani was “Marriage and the Family;” the class, attracting approximately 200 students per year, was offered every semester, sometimes twice, and was always oversubscribed with a waiting list of from five to fifteen students. Prior to his time at George Mason, he taught at the College Park campus of the University of Maryland while completing his Masters and Doctoral degrees from 1965 to 1969.
During the Second World War, he served in the US Army Chemical Warfare Service from 1943-1946. Following what he considered a distinct call to ministry, he chose, upon completion of military service, to study sociology instead of continuing a career in his childhood passion, chemistry.
Sociology made him keenly aware
of the impact social groups had
upon individuals and their behavior.
Understanding the dynamics of interpersonal relationships
would be essential to comprehend
the practical function of the Body of Christ.
In 1951, following his graduation from Temple University, he entered the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia. He then embarked on his academic career teaching at Eastern Bible Institute in Green Lane, Pennsylvania, where he also served as the Dean of Men. There he began his life-long passion for teaching the Gospel and Letters of John.
Dr. Tavani left EBI in 1959
to serve as President of Pine Crest Bible Institute
(duly chartered as
an accredited post-secondary institution of higher learning
with the Italian Branch of the Assemblies of God
in Salisbury Center, NY)
until its merger with EBI in 1962 to become Northeast Bible College,
now Valley Forge Christian College in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania;
in 1971, he chaired the committee that recommended
that the college be authorized to grant degrees in Pennsylvania.
An ordained minister with the Assemblies of God,
he served as the final District Superintendent
in the Italian District of the Assemblies of God
before its merger with the greater fellowship in 1989.
He also served from 1971-73 as coordinator of the Washington Program for Evangel University, Springfield, MO, in which students came to the nation's capital for January-term studies on government decision-making processes. As an adjunct Professor for Trinity Seminary’s distant education program from 1992 until after retirement, Dr. Tavani also advised a number of doctoral students in research methods.
Community and professional activities include Presiding Elder of Clinton Community Church in Maryland, and trusted counselor to many area pastors of various denominations; political activist, participating as a pro-life Republican in predominately Democratic southern Prince Georges County, Maryland, from 1963-2000; organizing new Parent-Teacher Associations in two schools, one newly integrated, 1968-1972; 25 years as President, Board of Directors, Teen Challenge of Washington, D.C., then of Maryland.
Two sisters survive Dr. Tavani: Lucy Perozzi in Cherry Hill, NJ, and Molly Sprechini in Wilkes-Barre, PA; he was preceded in death by his father, Vincenzo, and mother, Maria; by his brother, George, and three other sisters, Louise Natal, Mary Brownell, and Mamie Marinacci.
Community and professional activities include Presiding Elder of Clinton Community Church in Maryland, and trusted counselor to many area pastors of various denominations; political activist, participating as a pro-life Republican in predominately Democratic southern Prince Georges County, Maryland, from 1963-2000; organizing new Parent-Teacher Associations in two schools, one newly integrated, 1968-1972; 25 years as President, Board of Directors, Teen Challenge of Washington, D.C., then of Maryland.
Two sisters survive Dr. Tavani: Lucy Perozzi in Cherry Hill, NJ, and Molly Sprechini in Wilkes-Barre, PA; he was preceded in death by his father, Vincenzo, and mother, Maria; by his brother, George, and three other sisters, Louise Natal, Mary Brownell, and Mamie Marinacci.
Immigrating in 1919
from Chieuti, an Arberesh Albanian enclave in Italy,
to settle in Camden, NJ
(where Nick was born on June 22, 1925),
his Roman Catholic family experienced conversion
through Baptist and Pentecostal missions.
This profoundly influenced
his lifelong ministry to the whole Body of Christ.
Other professional activities and memberships include: the Board of Directors, Elim Bible Institute, 1972-89, then Special Counsel to the President 1989-2006; Board of Trustees/Directors, Pine Grove Camp, 1946-55; Board of Directors, Valley Forge Christian College, 1963-1967; The American Scientific Affiliation, full member, 1965-2006; The Christian Sociological Society, charter member, 1992-2006; American Association of Christian Counselors, charter member, 1997-2006; The Howard Center, member; National Council on Family Relations, member. Honors and recognitions include: Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award, 1943; Dr. William H. Seip Award in Chemistry, 1943; Pi Gamma Mu – National Social Science Honorary Society, 1949; Seminary Award in New Testament Exegesis, 1953; Alpha Kappa Delta – National Sociology Honor Society, 1965; Dissertation Fellowship, University of Maryland, 1968; Commendation in the Congressional Record, April 22, 1971; Phi Kappa Phi – National Graduate Honor Society, 1969; Order of the Golden Shield (in lieu of an honorary doctorate), Evangel University, 1971; College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award “For Services Beyond Usual Expectations,” George Mason University, May 29, 1990.
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