REACHING OUT TO HELP HIS HOMELAND
Peter Kole Is a Driving Force Behind Relief Efforts
By Thomas M. Dolan
Peter Kole had always longed to see his ancestral home in Albania again.
"I never thought in my lifetime that I would be able to go back," Kole says. But in 1990 , Kole was able
to fulfill his dream and traveled to Albania with a group from Worcester, Mass. What he saw there was not
the Albania of his dreams, however. It was a country full of poverty and destitution.
"You go there, you come back and say "I've got to do something' " he says.
Since then, Kole, who heads Paramount Seating Company in Cleveland, Ohio, has been doing all that he
can to help make life a little better for Albanians. As part of the New England Albanian Relief
Organization, he helped organize a relief effort that sent truckloads of food and clothing to the thousands of
Albanians living in poverty.
But Kole didn't stop there. While visiting Albania, he noticed that there weren't any libraries. He
began collecting books and eventually opened the largest open-stack library in Europe in his hometown of
Progadec. Kole also hired a retired American librarian to organize the library and train local residents to
run it.
Soon, Kole's relief efforts began to catch the attention of the politicians in his area, as well as other
organizations looking for a cause to support.
" When you go into humanitarian aid, it's amazing how many doors open up, " Kole says. As the
opportunities arose, Kole was able to send large shipments of hospital and business equipment to Albania,
among many other items.
In addition to sending aid to overseas, Kole has also helped many young Albanians come to the United
States to enjoy the opportunities only higher education can offer. With the reopening of Albania to the
Western World, Kole and his wife, Nancy, established a scholarship fund for Albanian students enrolled at
Clark University in Worcester, Mass.
Worcester is home to one of the largest Albanian-American communities in the United States, and from
early on, Clark University has welcomed first-and second-generation Albanian-Americans into its
classrooms. Qerim Panarity, editor of the first Albanian-American newspaper in the United States, Dieli,
graduated from Clark in the 1920s.
Several years ago, Panarity's family established a scholarship fund at Clark. Dr. Lambi Adams
graduated from Clark in the 1930s and became one of the first Albanian-American professionals in the
area, practicing medicine in Worcester for many years. Adams commemorated his Clark education by
establishing an endowed chair in the university's history department for Albanian studies. He also
established a scholarship fund at Clark for Albanian students.
George Vasil, who earned a degree from Clark in the 1950s, was recently inducted into the Clark
Athletic Hall of Fame for his contributions to the basketball program. And Perry Pero, a member of
Clark's class of 1961, now serves on the university's board of trustees.
Kole was honored at luncheon held Oct.30 at the home of Clark's president, Richard P. Traina, and
hosted by alumni and former Clark trustees Steve Dune and Norman Peters. Kole met with some of the
current Albanian students at the university, several of whom are supported by scholarship funds donated by
Kole, Adams and Dune. In a short speech, Kole encouraged these students to take every opportunity higher
education has to offer.
" Education is the great equalizer," Kole told the students," and without it, we can't survive."