Janice Laruccia
December 15, 1942 - January 16, 2023
SAN DIEGO — Janice Mary Laruccia (née Bredice) died January 16, 2023, at Scripps Green Hospital after a long illness with her daughter at her bedside. She was 80.
Janice was born in Newport, Rhode Island on Dec. 15, 1942, to Pasquale (Pat) and Ada (Capelletti) Bredice. From the very beginning, she was surrounded and shaped by her Italian family. Beyond her parents and her older sister, Patricia (Patty), and her younger brother, Richard, Janice was adored by her many aunts, uncles and cousins. As a young child, her family moved to Altadena, California and many of those extended relatives followed, providing a lifetime of memories and laughter that Janice reveled in recounting throughout the years.
After graduating from Muir High School, Janice enrolled at Pasadena City College where she met her first husband, Alan Davies, and cemented important lifelong friendships. After divorcing Alan, Janice received a bachelor’s degree from Cal State, Los Angeles while working two jobs and raising her daughter, Jennifer.
It was during this time that she met Victor Laruccia, a Ph.D. student at UC San Diego, through mutual friends. After a whirlwind courtship, the two married on March 9, 1974, and then moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where Victor had been offered a teaching job at Brown University.
Those years in Providence were meaningful to Janice as she served as a big sister/surrogate mother to many of Victor’s students, cooking meals and hosting parties while reconnecting with the East Coast side of her extended Italian family. During that time, she also received her paralegal certificate.
Janice and Victor moved back to Pasadena in the early ‘80s allowing her to be closer to family and to engage in her lifelong passion for politics alongside her sister, a noted local political consultant. Janice, who was an organized and a precise thinker, oversaw the absentee voter programs for several high-profile campaigns, including that of Los Angeles City Councilperson Gloria Molina.
Janice remained engaged and committed to the political process throughout her life, making a point to door knock with her daughter and grandson, Jack, and donating time and money to other political candidates and causes.
Janice was good at almost anything she tried, from cooking, to word and card games, to knitting and crochet to writing. She took up pottery as a hobby and enjoyed the camaraderie of her fellow potters and was constantly crafting beautiful bowls, platters and vases that friends and family coveted.
While her husband, Victor, founded the San Diego Italian Film Festival, Janice served on the board and was a constant behind-the-scenes presence, helping guide the events and parties that were integral to the organization’s mission and success.
In fact, that was Janice’s specialty: being central to almost any endeavor and yet never needing to be the center of attention. To her family and many friends, she was the glue, the fun, the passion that fueled the grace notes of life. She was a devoted daughter, sister, friend, wife, mother and grandmother who did so much for so many people without ever losing herself.
She was known for her quick-witted humor, fierce determination, generous spirit and a laugh that would fill the room.
Janice is preceded in death by her parents, sister, and her husband, Victor, to whom she was married for 48 years before his passing last March 2022.
She is survived by her daughter, Jennifer Davies, and her husband, Michael Stetz; her granddaughter, Dr. Gabrielle Williams, and her husband, Matt Williams; her grandson, Jack Stetz; and her brother, Richard Bredice, and his wife, Sue, as well as a huge circle of family and friends.
A celebration of life is being planned for March 11. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to the San Diego Italian Film Festival.