He worked in Franklin D. Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration, served in the 8th Infantry division in France and Germany during World War II, and after V-E Day was stationed in Berlin. In his undergraduate and graduate years at Cornell he majored in Slavic linguistics, he minored in Russian literature under Vladimir Nabokov and studied Russian, French, Italian and a "smattering" of Polish.

And he has worked at Cornell for 56 years.

He is Joe Buttino '51, research aide at Alumni Affairs and Development, and today is his last day of work before retiring at age 85.

A native of Cortland, N.Y., Buttino's association with Cornell began long before he became an undergraduate. One of 12 children, for years he helped his father set off fireworks displays that drew thousands in their hometown, in upstate New York -- including Cornell's Schoellkopf Field -- and in Pennsylvania. His education was put on hold when he entered the Army Air Corps during World War II and was eventually shipped out of Camp Myles Standish, Mass., to France during the Battle of the Bulge. In April 1945 his division linked up with the Russians at the Elbe River. Buttino went on to Berlin to serve in Gen. Lucius D. Clay's liaison office for the Office of Military Government.

"This was the greatest assignment I could have had," Buttino recalls. "Berlin was teaming with refugees from all over, and the Germans were encouraged to restore a sense of civilization and culture. The philharmonic orchestra, opera, ballet and vaudeville -- all were in full swing, and I went to many performances."

After the war Buttino attended Cornell, often hitchhiking to campus from Cortland. He graduated in 1951 and later got a job managing an office for Cornell Professor Claude Kulp in the experimental program in elementary education. Those were fun times," Buttino says.

When the program's five-year grant from the Ford Foundation expired, Buttino was tapped to work for Cornell President Deane Malott. "We got along very well," Buttino says. "For all that I wrote for him -- and I felt like I was winging it much of the time -- he rejected only two assignments."

After Malott retired in 1963, Buttino served President James Perkins. "Perkins' disjointed handwriting was very tiny, and many of the university's deans and senior officers had difficulty deciphering his notations to them," says Buttino. "I served as cryptographer for him, interpreting his writing for others."

In 1969 Buttino moved to the development office as an editor and researcher. "The office was located in Day Hall then, and there were about 20 of us," he recalls. His responsibilities included keeping the division abreast of events in the lives of the university's alumni and friends.

Over the years his worldwide travels have taken him to Jamaica to see his sister, a Franciscan nun who graduated from Cornell in 1943, and his late brother, who was a Maryknoll priest in Taiwan.

In retiring, Buttino takes with him the institutional knowledge from a career that spans the tenure of eight Cornell presidents. "I don't regret one minute I've spent here," he says. "I have so many fond memories of Cornell, and I've always looked forward to coming to work. I've met some wonderful people -- co-workers, faculty and staff -- all have been top-notch."

But Buttino's greatest impact has come through the people whose lives he has touched. He has taught English to immigrants, and run errands, shopped and provided transportation for those in need. He received the George Peter Award for Dedicated Service in 1984, and six years ago, to celebrate his half-century of service to Cornell, his colleagues composed a tribute to him that began: "Wonderful, wondrous Joe! Joe's dedication and dependability have never flagged, nor have personal or professional travails ever darkened his optimism or shaken his sense of humor."