Joe Izzillo is the author of "My Nine Lives (minus) One," an extraordinary memoir of a Renaissance man now in his 88th year.

The author grew up in an Italian ghetto in The Bronx in New York City with Italian as his principal language.

He spent two years in a monastery and three years in the army in World War II in the combat engineers and the topographic engineers.

In England he married the former Noreen Burnham. They have raised six children.

After the war he attended Fordham University and received his Juris Doctor degree in 1951 from Saint John's University.

Joe has practiced law in New York and Connecticut for sixty years. He is now of Of Counsel with the law firm of Roberts & Bates P.C.

He has been a private pilot since 1962. Joe is now a captain in the Naples FL squadron of the Civil Air Patrol.

Some of his most memorable moments were spending a day with Charles A. Lindbergh, personally meeting General George S. Patton, Jr., Helen Keller, Pope John Paul II, and J. Edgar Hoover.

His Hobbies include flying, boating, camping and painting. Most of his paintings can be seen on Facebook.

He has been involved in three near-death experiences, two in World War II, and one as a pilot.

Joe now resides with Noreen in Naples, Florida.