Victoria DeFilippo Lutzer, known to her friends and family as Vicki, passed away on December 25, 2024 at the age of 81. She died peacefully at Clark-Lindsey nursing home in Urbana, Illinois.

Vicki was born in 1943 in Newark, New Jersey and spent her childhood in a vibrant Italian neighborhood in Bloomfield, NJ, surrounded by an extended family of immigrants from Sicily and from the Alpine Cadore region of northern Italy. She graduated from Immaculate Conception High School and went on to receive her undergraduate degree in Child Studies from Vassar College in 1965. Later she received a Masters degree from Clark University and then a Ph.D. degree from the University of Minnesota.

Throughout her career Vicki dedicated herself to helping children, families, and teachers. She was a school psychologist in K-12 schools in Ohio and Virginia and she worked to prepare future teachers, first as a faculty member in the School of Education at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and then at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Vicki is survived by her loving husband David, her four children Jacob, Carl, Lisa, and Joseph, her six grandchildren, and by her brother John. Vicki’s bright light and nurturing presence will be deeply missed by her family and all who knew her.

The family plans a private memorial. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Vassar College Advancement Office, 161 College Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603.