STATUES OF HISTORY

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October 23, 2013

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Profiled in an article published in Notre Dame's fall 2013 edition of IRISH magazine, NDHS alum Mike Petrucci is helping to preserve Michigan's automotive history.

The sun is shining outside on a spring day in Michigan, but Mike Petrucci '62 (NDHS) is inside his shop just down the street from the DTE Energy Music Theatre working on making the late Walter P. Chrysler come back to life.

No, he's not some latter-day Dr. Frankenstein. He runs a company called Fine Arts Sculpture Centre, and one of his big projects currently is called "Back to the Bricks," which involves creating life-sized bronze statues of historic automotive-industry pioneers (like Chrysler) that will be located all over the city of Flint.

The project, according to the Genesee County committee heading it up, is meant to "inspire the next generation of leadership while educating the public on the legacy of the automotive industry, especially in Genesee County and Flint." Besides Walter Chrysler, other statues on Petrucci's to-do list are those of David Buick, Charles Nash, C.S. Mott, Walter Reuther, Albert Champion and Charles F. Kettering. As they are completed, the sculptures will be installed at various locations in the city.

Even though he didn't take art at Notre Dame or in college, Petrucci's work looks to be just as artistic and relevant as those coming from casting foundries used by the great sculptors Alberto Giacometti, Marshall Fredericks and many others in the early 20th century who relied on the kind of skilled craftsmen like Petrucci and his employees.

"My uncle, Fred Petrucci, started the company in 1962, the year I graduated from Notre Dame, after he trained in Italy with Bruno Bearzi," Petrucci says. "Bearzi was the internationally regarded director of the Fonderia Artistica Fiorentina." Petrucci notes that his company is one of only a handful in the state that utilize the old-world-like lost-wax, shell-casting process and that also provides complete turn-key operations, including repair and restoration, patina application and even statue installation.

Petrucci works with sculptors locally and worldwide to create the artwork. The Flint statues are being created by Clio, Mich., sculptor Joe Rundell. Other Petrucci-cast statues, which can be seen throughout southeast Michigan, include Joe Louis, widely seen inside the lobby of Cobo Center in downtown Detroit, Thomas Edison in Port Huron, and the Vietnam War Memorial in Mt. Pleasant.

He says over the years he's met some really interesting people. "On the Joe Louis project for the city of Detroit, for example, I was able to meet Mayor Coleman Young. That was fun!

"We've come a long way," Petrucci says, "A long way from the small barn my Uncle Fred used when he first opened FASC on this plot of land in Clarkston."

Most of his operation today looks modern and almost completely brand new. Petrucci says that's because it is. "We had a fire in 2002 and lost a lot of the building, which was pretty old and constructed mostly of wood," he says. "I got a call at home that day from a landscaper who rents some of my property. He says 'Mike, your building is on fire.' By the time I got here most of the building was already on the ground." He says they never determined how the fire started, but he quickly rebuilt to keep moving on the business, most of which comes from clients in Michigan, with a smattering from Chicago or New York.

Work has been a bit tepid over the past few years, Petrucci says, but lately there seems to be an uptick. "One of the problems we've been having is that many of the artists or patrons I've been dealing with over the years are getting old and are—or will be—retiring."

As such, he's planning to step up his marketing activity. As for competition, Petrucci says there really aren't too many companies in Michigan that do what Fine Arts does, other than possibly one other foundry about the same size in Kalamazoo. "And there are the colleges, of course, like Wayne State and CCS downtown, that will take in casting work, but for the most part, there aren't too many like us." Outside of Michigan, however, there are large concentrations of companies like his in New York, Colorado and the west coast.

But Petrucci is content to stay in Michigan where his kids, grandkids and friends are. In fact he still regularly gets together with a few members of his 1962 Notre Dame class, including Terry Foley, Tom Lueck and Judson Noe. In September of last year, Petrucci and fellow members of his NDHS football team were honored at a Notre Dame Prep football game in Pontiac.

Being recognized at a Prep football game was a great honor, Petrucci says, but he holds a special place for a memorable event back when he was a member of Notre Dame's varsity baseball team.

"The biggest sports highlight for me at Notre Dame was when we played baseball at Tiger Stadium against St. Thomas in what was then called the city championship. On the bus ride to the game, Coach Tom Kelly says to me, 'Do you think you can handle Kaline's corner?' I was a junior and not a regular starter, but of course I said yes. So he started me over a senior in right field. I had the game of my life!"

UPDATE

Petrucci has since sold the business and is retired. His wife, Janet, writes that she and Mike met at a Notre Dame sock hop and were faithful attendees every week. "Wonderful memories of those days as well as the person responsible for them will live forever," said the 1961 Regina High School grad. "When Fr. Bryson added Tuesday dances along with the Friday night record hops in the summer, we were elated. Our whole social life revolved around those nights."

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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.