Saratoga Rotary Legacy Leaders Series

 

 

The years was 1973. The Vietnam war was winding down, the Watergate scandal was heating up, and The Godfather swept The Oscars.

 

But most importantly, that was the year 24-year-old Gene Zambetti returned home to Saratoga after serving in the U.S. Army. He  immediately went to work managing his father Peter’s dry cleaning business.

Peter Zambetti, one of twenty-five charter members of the Saratoga Rotary Club, thought Gene was a little young to become a Rotarian, but Gene’s sponsors Bob Barbatti and Lou Leto felt he was up to the task. His membership became official in 1974. Incidentally, Peter made it a point to never sit at the same lunch table as Gene, believing the young man should establish his own identity in the club.

The club was different in those days. “There were about 65 members, all men,” Gene recalled. Friday lunch meetings included a “smoker’s table”, and, indeed, several members lit up during lunch. “We had a liquor table, and for one dollar, you could mix your own drinks.”