Joseph Spinelli taught geography at the University for 35 years. He died last Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at age 69.

Spinelli had no children, but over the years he kept in contact with several former students, some he considered his goddaughters and godsons.

During the weeks before he passed, some of those former students came to say goodbye, including Tonya Baily.

“I spent a lot of time just hanging out and watching movies,” Bailey said. “Just little things like that.”

She remembered him for his energy in the classroom, and once she graduated she kept in contact, turning to him for advice or input.

“He was, quite honestly, one of the strictest professors I’ve ever had,” Bailey said. “But I was grateful for it.”

Outside the classroom, she remembered him for his home-cooked meals.

Spinelli periodically invited students over for dinner and an evening of conversation.

And the strictness in the classroom didn’t disappear in his spare time.

“He was meticulous over how the table was set,” Bailey said.

But with his intensity he brought his passion, and he taught anyone who wanted to learn how to make his famous pizzas.

Spinelli and his brothers were first-generation Americans after their parents came over from Italy as children.

Italian food was his specialty.

“If you don’t know how to make a good pasta, you might as well turn in your Italian heritage,” said Spinelli’s younger brother John.

But meals were from a wide range of cultures, and could include Italian, French, baked goods or sometimes Asian.

“He could tell you where stuff was grown,” John said. “He brought a lot of real life information and facts to the students he invited over.”

And along with dinner came conversation.

Spinelli would share stories about the places he’s been, such as South Africa, Russia, Europe and Latin America. He would talk about issues in philosophy, geography or literature.

“A lot of professors were sort of boring, but this guy was colorful,” said Elmer Spreitzer, a retired sociology professor for the University.

Every week, Spreitzer, Spinelli and Steven Chang, another geography professor, would go to lunch, sometimes accompanied by other faculty members.

“He was very knowledgeable, very well read,” Chang said about his friend.

Spinelli was one of the first to welcome Chang when Chang first started at the University. He invited the new teacher to dinner.

“Apple pie, a great apple pie,” Chang said. “I still remember that. And that’s how we met.”

That was how most remembered him, with great food and great conversation.

And a great sense of humor too, Chang said.

“If you had a rousing conversation and a table with really good food, maybe some wine and classical music, that’s about as good as it can get,” John said.

Spinelli taught at the University for 35 years. He served as the associate chair of the geography department during the late ’70s and early ’80s. Then he went back to the classroom full time.

“Learning and knowledge were the utmost importance to him,” John said. “He didn’t put academics lightly.”

Besides teaching assignments for his master’s degree, he never taught anywhere else.

“He was never happier than when he was teaching,” Bailey said.

Chang still gets e-mails asking about Spinelli.

“A lot of students he mentored,” he said. “Towards the end, a number of them came from quite a distance.”

Surviving him is his younger brother, John Spinelli.