By Patrick Russo
ROBERT RUSSO
Fruiterer, property developer
Robert Russo outside his father's fruit shop in Centre Road, Bentleigh in 1935.
11-09-1920 – 08-03-2016
Bob Russo has died as he lived, quietly and gently. His 95-year life is the story of the Italian migrant in Melbourne.
While many Italians have made Melbourne their home, here in this one long but unassuming life we see a century-long segment of Italo-Australian history.
In 1920, the year of Bob's birth, his father Giuseppe left Alicudi, the most remote of the Aeolian Islands, to come to Melbourne. The islands have given Melbourne so many well-known names: Taranto, Santamaria, Bongiorno, Zagame, Dimattina are but a few.
Together with his mother and two older brothers, Bob remained on Alicudi for two years before following his father. Such women, often referred to as "white widows", could spend years without their husbands, waiting for a new home to be established.
As for many Italians, Sydney Road, Brunswick was the first port of call until the move to the suburbs to start the obligatory fruit shop. Growing up at the back of his father's fruit shop in Centre Road, Bentleigh in the 1930s was formative. Barefoot, dirty children would frequently stop at the shop for vegetable scraps or spoilt fruit. He learned the value of a strong family and developed the unshakeable work ethic that never left him.
It was through the difficult times of the Great Depression that Bob, who demonstrated early his remarkable intellect, won a scholarship to attend De La Salle College in Malvern. He had been there less than six months when, at the age of 13, his father took him out of school to work in the shop.
Education and learning would remain forever the great prize. Like so many second-generation migrants, Bob's eight children would all achieve beyond the norm. All would go on to tertiary education and become alumni of the University of Melbourne in the fields of engineering, science, commerce, education, medicine and dentistry.
The war years saw Bob conscripted into the Australian Army. As part of the 39th Battalion he fought on the Kokoda Trail, arguably the definitive battle for Australia in World War II. Like many veterans he spoke little of the war in New Guinea, but clearly the impact on this thoughtful and sensitive man was profound. Hostility towards Italians at home provided the curious situation of fending off racism while defending Australia. The experience would shape forever his sympathy for the waves of migrants and refugees who were to follow and his disdain for politicians and generals who would send young men to war.
The year 1950 saw marriage to his rock Isa, a postwar Italian migrant herself. A family, prosperity and good fortune followed with endeavours in agriculture, building property and land development. But true to Italian tradition, family was always at the core.
Equally true, however, was the embrace of Australian multiculturalism. When his family gathered to celebrate his life, the diversity that makes this country great was evident. Partners of Bob's eight children and 26 grandchildren hail from Ireland, England, Holland, Poland, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, America … and even a couple of Italians.
His legacy is prodigious and he will be remembered well.