Stephen J. Luczo - Early Life

Early Life

Stephen Luczo was born on February 28, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois at Augustana Hospital. He is the youngest of three sons of Thomas and Rose Luczo. The family moved to Park Ridge in 1959, where Luczo lived until 1976 when he moved to California to attend Stanford University. Luczo attended public schools through high school and attended the University of Illinois at Champange-Urbana in 1975-76, before transferring to Stanford in September 1976. He holds a B.A., economics and psychology, and MBA from Stanford University.

In 1979, Luczo earned an AB in Economics, with honors, and also completed a major in Psychology, from Leland Stanford Jr, University (“Stanford”). Luczo received the Laura Myer Award for the outstanding undergraduate honors thesis in the Economics Department. His work centered on break through analysis concerning the decline in the African American fertility rate between 1890-1940. Luczo’s work focused on detailed statistical analysis of census data attributes, which correlated the decline in family size as direct decisions of African Americans to address economic conditions and opportunities. While such considerations, and conclusions, had been attributed to the white decline in fertility over the same time period, prior to Luczo’s work, most historians attributed the decline in African American fertility to issues related to health and disease. In addition to his work in Economics, Luczo completed all requirements for a Psychology major, while at Stanford. He specialized in Neuropsychology, and took several graduate level courses including extensive work with Karl Pribram. Luczo wrote several research papers on memory systems in the human brain, specifically addressing and supporting Pribram’s thesis of holographic constructs in the human brain.

Luczo returned to Stanford in 1982, where he attended the Graduate School of Business (GSB). He graduated in 1984 and concentrated his course work in finance. While at the GSB, Luczo was a co-founder (along with Robert Moog, Dave Bagshaw, and Scott Setrakian) of the Hercules Horseshoe Club (“HHC”) and of the Hard Core Awards. Both activities were centered on fostering cooperation and conversation between teachers, administrators and students. Luczo still holds the record for most consecutive match wins at the HHC.