Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 8:59 a.m.
Lupo A. Quitoriano survived two tours of duty in Vietnam only to be paralyzed in a 1971 automobile accident 28 days after he returned to the United States.
Still, that did not stop him from realizing his dreams. He earned a degree in psychology and worked as a psychologist for the Veterans Administration in Long Beach, Calif., counseling disabled veterans in the 1980s and '90s.
After moving to Las Vegas in 1997, and learning there was no Paralyzed Veterans of America chapter in Nevada, he began a two-year quest and with the help of members of Nevada's congressional delegation established a local chapter in 1999. He was its first president and went on to become national director of the organization.
The tireless fighter for veterans causes died in his sleep Tuesday at his Las Vegas home. He was 54.
Services will be 1 p.m. Saturday at the Council of Nevada Veterans' Gobel-Lowden Veterans Center and Museum, 3333 Cambridge St.
"Lupo worked closely with us on many pieces of (proposed) legislation including (rules for) handicapped vehicles with side-loading wheelchair lifts," said Ed Gobel, the council president.
Quitoriano also "testified (before the Legislature) on behalf of the first increase in the veterans property tax exemption since 1953," which was approved, Gobel noted.
Kathi Drennen, executive director of the local chapter founded by Quitoriano, said he was a "bigger than life" figure among paralyzed and otherwise disabled veterans.
"He advocated for causes better than anyone I ever saw," Drennen said. "He lived, ate, slept and breathed the PVA, often sacrificing his own health to benefit other veterans."
Drennen said Quitoriano worked so hard last year on the organization's behalf that he wound up getting ill and spending eight months in a hospital. Still, his death was a surprise, she said, because he showed no signs of ailing in recent months.
Born Dec. 29, 1949, in Portland, Ore., Quitoriano was raised in Stockton, Calif., where he joined the Navy out of high school.
After his debilitating auto accident, he remained in the Navy until December 1973 when he was discharged as an electrician's mate second class.
Quitoriano went to college and in 1988 received his doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi.
As a staff psychologist at the Long Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center, Quitoriano's duties included counseling veterans with spinal cord injuries, helping them readjust to society. He quit the VA over what he perceived as its slow progress, especially with treating spinal cord injuries.
Quitoriano was a member of the Paralyzed Veterans of America in California for 25 years before he came to Las Vegas. The chapter he formed here was the 35th for the national organization that represents more than 20,300 paralyzed veterans.
"Our job is to inform people about the reality of spinal cord injuries and how we deal with them realistically," Quitoriano told the Sun in a July 5, 1999, story.
"We will be a strong voice for getting those services so veterans with spinal cord injuries won't have to make so many 300-mile trips to other hospitals for things that can and should be treated here."
The local chapter that began with 68 veterans has grown to 172 members.
The congressionally chartered national organization, formed after World War II, is open to all veterans with combat and noncombat spinal cord injuries or diseases.
Quitoriano is survived by his wife, Denise Quitoriano; mother, Florence; daughter, Anita; five brothers; five sisters; and two grandchildren.
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