Zuccarelli remembered as ‘genuine champion’
Memorial honors life of former Thornton Township supervisor
Frank Zuccarelli, longtime Thornton Township supervisor and board chairman of South Suburban College in South Holland, was remembered Friday at as being devoted all his life to improving the lives of south suburban residents.
“He was a genuine champion,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a memorial service held at the community college.
Zuccarelli died Jan. 3 at his South Holland home at age 70.
The governor said Zuccarelli lived “a brilliant life of service and friendship.”
“The world was made better by Frank,” Pritzker said.
A graduate of Thornridge High School in Dolton, Zuccarelli enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1969 and was a medic in Vietnam until 1972, according to his obituary.
In 1974, he enrolled in what was then Thornton Community College, earning an associate of science degree in 1976 and an associate of arts degree in 1978.
He was elected to TCC’s board of trustees in 1978, initially serving as a student trustee, then became board chairman in 1987, a position he had held until his death. The school’s name was changed to South Suburban College in 1988.
Zuccarelli had been Thornton Township supervisor since 1993 and had been the township’s Democratic committeeman since 2002.
Friends remembered Zuccarelli during the service and sharing stories at a visitation beforehand.
Tony DeFilippo, a trustee at the South Suburban College since 1989, said he knew Zuccarelli since the late 1970s when he established his political committee, Friends of Frank Zuccarelli.
“It was in the kitchen of his parents’ home” in South Holland, DeFilippo said. “He got me involved in community service.”
He said that Zuccarelli was a believer in giving back to the community, either through his role with the college or through the township.
“The guy had a heart that was way much bigger than his body” DeFilippo said. “He gave until he gave everything he had.”
Phoenix Mayor Terry Wells, also a college trustee, said through the township, Zuccarelli “did things that local officials had not done before,” noting his efforts to help the youth and seniors.
“I can think of no one who’s done more than Frank” for the south suburbs, Wells said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened, Zuccarelli used his influence to get a testing site established at the college, then later a mass vaccination site, Wells said.
Wells said that Zuccarelli had talked about retiring, but friends knew that would not happen.
“Frank left the way he wanted,” Wells said.
Donnie Trotter, former state senator, said during the service that Zuccarelli “worked hard to bring funding and jobs to Thornton Township.”
“He wasn’t just a leader, he was a worker,” Trotter said. “He did everything he humanly could to make the people proud to be residents of Thornton Township.”
Rosemaria DiBenedetto was a student trustee on the community
college board from 1984 until 1986, when the school was still TCC. She was one of two candidates vying for the seat, elected by the student body.
“Frank backed my opponent and I won,” she said. “We did become friends.”
DiBenedetto, who works in community and media relations in the south and southwest suburbs, worked for Zuccarelli from 1994 through 1998 when he was township supervisor.
“It’s hard to say goodbye to people you love so much,” she said.
Markham Mayor Roger Agpawa said he had known Zuccarelli since 1979, when they both worked as orderlies at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey. Zuccarelli worked in orthopedics and Agpawa in the emergency department, he said.
“Our paths continued to cross, our friendship continued,” Agpawa said.
He said Zuccarelli had a true passion for taking care of people.
“He had a special gift,” Agpawa said. “He will be sorely missed.”
With a population of about 185,000, Thornton is the largest of the state’s 1,434 townships, according to its website.
The township borders Indiana and includes all or parts of Burnham, Calumet City, Dixmoor, Dolton, East Hazel Crest, Harvey, Homewood, Lansing, Phoenix, Riverdale, South Holland and Thornton.
The township has 170 full- and part-time township employees and in 2019 had a budget of $35 million in 2019, according to the Illinois comptroller’s office. By comparison, neighboring Bremen Township’s annual budget was about $1.5 million.
The township board has until early March to name a replacement for Zuccarelli.