Art Broga walked into Ralph’s Tavern on the corner of Madison and New Scotland avenues and was struck by a woman sitting in a booth. He said to a friend, “I’m going to marry that girl.” There was, as it happened, a peddler selling roses in the eatery, so he bought one and presented it to the young woman, whose name was Kim.
They discovered they both attended what was then the Albany College of Pharmacy; she was in her first year, he was in his fourth. Art walked Kim home to her dorm that night, and the pair started dating.
“I just saw her and something clicked,” he said.
That meet cute might be a tough act to follow. Yet Art came up with a memorable way to propose several years later. The couple were enjoying a day on the slopes at Killington Ski Resort in Vermont. Art arranged with the staff to let only he and Kim into one of the gondolas. Once they were alone, he got down on one knee and popped the question.
“And I said ‘yes,’ of course,” Kim said. “I’ve been very lucky to be the beneficiary of his romanticness and surprises.”
They got married the year Kim graduated, 1995. They now have two adult children and work from home for the same health insurance company. Having the common profession of pharmacy has been helpful to them as a couple.
“It definitely makes for an easy conversation when you both know the story basically,” Art said.
They attribute their longevity to sharing an easy-going outlook on life as well as many interests. They still like enjoy time together outdoors, running, biking, hiking and traveling.
You know that rom-com where the couple’s going to end up together, but it takes them a while to figure it out? That movie could star Paul Pagnotta and Jennifer Cerulli.
Cerulli remembers their first meeting. Pagnotta was sitting in the ACP cafeteria with one of Pagnotta’s fraternity brothers, whom Cerulli knew. Cerulli had just transferred to the school, as a second-year student in what was then a five-year bachelor’s program. Pagnotta was in his third year.
Nothing happened.
They were together at social events throughout college. They saw each other at Ralph’s Tavern or the Elbo Room or a place dubbed “Club Warren,” two houses on Warren Street where Pagnotta lived with other students and frequently hosted parties.
After Pagnotta graduated, he worked in Rochester for a year for the now-defunct Fay’s Drugs pharmacy chain, then returned to Albany to work for Fay’s in Kingston. When Cerulli, who was doing postdoctoral work at ACP, moved into a new apartment, she discovered Pagnotta was living there and left a note in his mailbox. Pagnotta felt conflicted because he was in a relationship; he did not respond.
They never saw each other, at all, while living in the same building.
They later ran into each other at corporate functions while Cerulli was also working at Fay’s, at the store on Delaware Avenue in Albany. In the fall of 1993, Pagnotta began stopping at the Delaware Avenue store to buy milk so he could chat with her. Cerulli didn’t think anything of it.
“I talked to my girlfriend,” Cerulli said, “and she's like, ‘Jen, he works at the store in Kingston. They must have coolers with milk.’“
One day Pagnotta got lucky and Cerulli’s computer wasn’t working right; he was able to fix it. Soon afterward, she found his car and left him cookies with a note. Friends set them up at a Christmas Party.
Finally!
In the montage that might follow, Pagnotta and Cerulli get married and have two daughters. In their careers, they explore various aspects of the pharmacy field, Cerulli teaching and Pagnotta running a community pharmacy for years.
They both end up back at what is now ACPHS. Cerulli is the assistant director of experiential education and Pagnotta is the operations manager for the student-operated pharmacies.
“This really has been part of us – the College,” Pagnotta said.
Madyson Allard is sure glad she took those 17 credit hours in the summer of 2015, so she could transfer into ACPHS as a second-year student.
If she hadn’t, she might have missed those study sessions with Nick James.
The two ACPHS students met at Albany Community Health Day, the precursor to the ACPHS Health and Wellness Expo. Allard, a new student, recognized James from a class and struck up a conversation about an organic chemistry exam. She had done well; he hadn’t. She, on the other hand, needed assistance in humanities. They decided to study together.
James says he was smitten immediately.
“I hadn’t seen anyone as beautiful as my to-be wife,” he said on a Zoom video call with Allard by his side.
He knew for sure he had fallen for Allard after he sprained his ankle during basketball practice and was stunned by the pain. He had no interest in studying that evening, but he met Allard anyway. Worse than the pain was the thought of missing time with her.
The couple shared interests but also had traits that complemented each other. Aside from pharmacy, they were both student athletes (she ran track), shared eclectic tastes in music (rap and hip-hop to country) and liked checking out new restaurants. They were both involved in campus organizations, but different ones; they enjoyed brainstorming event ideas but never became competitive. He was popular and outgoing; her reserve balanced him.
It was a tragedy, though, that made them realize they had something more than a college romance. About a year and a half after they met, James’ older brother died.
“I distinctly remember thinking, if we can get through this together, then we can get through anything together, everything else will be easy,” James said.
They graduated in May 2020 and got engaged in January 2021. They initially planned for a September 2023 wedding but moved it up to September 2022 over concerns about Allard’s father’s health. Sadly, Allard’s father died before the wedding day. They almost cancelled but then decided they needed to celebrate life.
“I’m glad we did it, because it ended up being like a reunion,” Allard said.
At an Albany-area venue, they had 40 or 50 ACPHS friends in attendance. People were directed to their seats with labels on old apothecary jars.
At the early stages of their careers, James has found a niche working in regulatory affairs for a biopharmaceutical company. Allard started a new job last month as a faculty member at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford, Conn.