Joseph John Iannucci Jr., a leading visionary of the distributed-resources industry, died of cancer Nov. 4, 2004, in Livermore, Calif. He was 56.
Iannucci graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1969 and earned a master's in astrophysics from Princeton. After 15 years at the Sandia National Laboratory, he moved to Pacific Gas & Electric. While working for PG&E, he and a colleague proposed the distributed-utility concept, which involved investing in small electric generation and storage technologies to meet local demands within the larger, centralized grid. Over the course of the 1990s this radically new idea, described by some as an "intellectual bolt," became mainstream thinking in a power industry anxious to reduce cost of services as well as environmental impacts.
Iannucci founded Distributed Utility Associates in 1993 in order to bridge the gap between electric utilities and the emerging distributed-resources community. He authored seminal studies of the economic and environmental consequences of distributed resources and was a dedicated mentor and teacher.
Iannucci was also an avid rock hound, accomplished tenor, and world traveler. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, a son, and a daughter.
This issue has undergraduate memorials for Robert Carl Ficke Jr. '33 *34 and Arthur Collins Jr. '52 *56.