This was 1989. He was a young phenom in the arts world. Ph.D. from Duke. Seven years as director of Durham’s arts council. A successful $2 million campaign for a new cultural center there. From there he could move up in the arts world to Washington or New York, or maybe to follow a dream to be a university president. But along came an offer to run Charlotte’s Arts & Science Council.

“I agonized over the decision,” Marsicano told the Charlotte Observer three decades ago.

- He was 33 then, and took the job.
- He’s 66 now, still here, the CEO of a nearly $4 billion community foundation, and as he embarks on retirement he’s one of the most consequential Charlotteans of the last half-century.