Meet Victor Verzar

February 1, 2017

Victor was born in Transylvania. It is the part of Rumania that was contested territory with Hungary. Victor and his family were refugees after World War II. They spent two years in Italy while they were being vetted to enter the United States. When they finally undertook the ten day voyage to America, Victor was too sick to be able to see the Statue of Liberty when they finally arrived.

Victor and his mother learned to speak English by listening to Amos and Andy on the radio. They first lived in the Bronx in an apartment much like that of The Honeymooners. However, Victor's father was a hard-working immigrant and after five years they moved to a lovely home in Long Island. Victor's father was a businessman and his mother taught ballet. Victor points out that two out of three businesses were started by immigrants.

Victor studied for a while at an engineering school, but when his father died, he had to drop out and start working. He went into the embroidery business and made the designer logos for all of the major companies in the 1970s. He then became a real estate broker and sold buildings. He had also bought a building of his own which he renovated himself and Victor moved to Vermont for the snow. He has been skiing at Mount Snow since it opened. Victor is a collector. Victor says the difference between a collector and a hoarder is that a collector has places in which to keep his collections.

His collections include cars, motorcycles, boats, four-wheelers, bicycles, clocks, paintings, furniture and many other objects. Once while driving one of his old cars in Bennington, he saw a sign for the Car Show. When he drove in, they had him exhibit his car in the show.

Victor joined Rotary because he likes Bennington and wants to help the community when and how he can. He feels that he has been very lucky in his life and wants to share that with others.

Author: Sally Sugarman (Club Member & Windmill Editor)
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