December 14, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 5 Saddle River Lawrence A. Raia of Saddle River has received the President’s Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Raia, who serves on the Newark College of Engineering Board of Visitors, is a principal and founding partner of Raia Properties Corporation, a family business that invests in and manages Class A apartments in the Southeast and Southwest. He graduated from Newark College of Engi- Raia earns President’s Medal for Lifetime Achievement neering in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and joined the New Jersey Highway Department as an assistant engineer. He soon joined the family business, a ready mix concrete and construction materials company in Garfield. Over the next 20 years, Raia and his two brothers grew the business to 10 plant sites and 150 concrete mixers, a quarry, and an asphalt plant and employed over 500 people. Raia Industries supplied concrete and aggregates to most of the major projects completed in North Jersey. Innovation and technology were employed to make the company a leader in service and quality. The company was sold in 1987, and Raia and his brothers continued expanding their real estate holdings by focusing on acquiring and developing a commercial real estate portfolio. Building warehouses and office buildings soon led to the development and management of a selfstorage group. The family partnership recently transitioned into its present form as owner and manager of Class A rental apartment com- plexes. Along the way, there was a focus on education. Raia received an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1979 and a professional engineer’s license in New Jersey in 1992. He and his wife, Elaine, provide a family scholarship to NJIT students. He is also a board member of a family initiated charity, Homes Fit for Heroes, an organization that provides housing for wounded United States Special Operations Soldiers and their families during their medical treatment. Besides being a member of the Saddle River Zoning Board of Adjustment, he is a (continued on page 27)