--- description: A 94-year-old man is graduating from WVU after working on his college degree on and off for about 75 years title: 94-Year-Old Man Finally Graduates From College image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 94-Year-Old Man Finally Graduates From College, More Than 75 Years After He Started  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer May 9, 2015 8:11 PM CUT  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer May 9, 2015 8:11 PM CUT A 94-year-old man will graduate from West Virginia University (WVU) this month after working on his degree on and off for more than 75 years. Anthony Brutto of Morgantown enrolled at WVU in 1939 and started studying engineering, physical education and industrial arts before being drafted into World War II and serving in the Army Air Corps, according to a WVU [press release](http://chronicles.wvu.edu/meet-the-grads/anthony-brutto "undefined"). He started his degree again when he came back home, but he soon had to stop taking classes because his wife fell ill. From then on, he worked as a machinist in factories that manufactured aircraft before retiring in the mid-’80s to make wooden sculptures of birds and wild animals, as well as jewelry. But he still kept plugging away at his coursework. “It was always important to me to graduate,” he said, according to the release. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3852980/94-year-old-man-graduates-college-west-virginia-university/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3852980/94-year-old-man-graduates-college-west-virginia-university/"},"headline":"94-Year-Old Man Finally Graduates From College, More Than 75 Years After He Started","datePublished":"2015-05-09T20:11:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:19:37.085Z","description":"His education was interrupted by World War II and then his work","url":"https://time.com/3852980/94-year-old-man-graduates-college-west-virginia-university/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3852980/94-year-old-man-graduates-college-west-virginia-university/","name":"94-Year-Old Man Finally Graduates From College, More Than 75 Years After He Started"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Alice Waters on Edible Education","description":"Alice Waters, chef and activist, talks about her project The Edible Schoolyard","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BRkbfoQ5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-24T10:24:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BRkbfoQ5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3852980/94-year-old-man-graduates-college-west-virginia-university/","duration":"PT4M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3852980/94-year-old-man-graduates-college-west-virginia-university/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```