Gennaro August Filice, Jr.
1922-2017
Gennaro A. Filice Jr. passed away peacefully on February 16, 2017, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Gennaro was born in Gilroy, California, on July 4, 1922 to Gennaro August Filice, Sr., and Clara Bozzo Filice. He attended elementary school in Gilroy and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1940. He was an Eagle Scout. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley in 1944. At Cal, he fell in love with Mae Merle Molfino, a Cal classmate from Strathmore, California. They dated at Cal, exchanged letters during Gennaro’s military service and were married on July 11th in 1944 when he was home on a two-day leave.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor Gennaro joined the Navy V-12 program at Cal, and then the United States Marine Corps, attending boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina and Officer Candidates School at Quantico, Virginia. He served with distinction as a First Lieutenant during WWll in Okinawa and China. After the war, Mae Merle and Gennaro lived in Richmond, El Cerrito, Orinda, Discovery Bay, and Palo Alto, California. Their four children graduated from Miramonte High School in Orinda and went on to careers in marketing, law, and medicine.
Gennaro was a loving father and spouse and a successful businessman. He rose in rank from traffic coordinator for the Filice and Perrelli Canning Company to President of Granny Goose Foods and Senior Vice President for Marketing for Del Monte Corporation. Throughout his career he lived by the values he learned from strong Italian parents and honed in the Marines: integrity, honor, and ethics above selfinterest. He was a generous volunteer for several organizations, including Boy Scouts of America, Seniors in Retirement, and his alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley. He was an avid golfer, an expert downhill skier, racquetball champion, and duck hunter. Over the years he and Mae Merle skied all the black diamond runs at Lake Tahoe with their children trying to keep pace. Gennaro also enjoyed prowling the fairways of the Orinda Country Club where in his prime he was a single-digit handicap. Fitness was always a priority for Gennaro and he was lifting weights and riding his stationary cycle up until the day before he passed. For Gennaro it was always “family first” and he loved spending time with his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
Gennaro was preceded in death by Mae Merle, his wife of 61 years. He is survived by brother George Carmen Filice of Santa Rosa, California; children Gregory Alan Filice and Svetlana Simovic of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Gennaro August Filice, III, and Sugar Franich Filice of Orinda, California, Victoria Mary Filice and Gary Joseph Wenzel, of New York, New York, Edie Filice Barry and Robert James Barry of Menlo Park, California; eight grandchildren, Ross Warren Filice, Clara Elizabeth Filice, Bradley Samuel Filice, Alexander Ruggero Filice, Gennaro August Filice, IV, Mary Margaret Mason, Victoria Mae Loreto, and Robert Jake Barry; and six great grandchildren, Zoe Bennington Filice, Leo Hobbins Filice, Samuel Grey Filice, Reid Walker Furie, Ryder Derek Mason, Rory Sugar Mason, Maya Angela Filice, and Leonardo James Loreto.
The funeral will be held at Santa Maria Church in Orinda Friday, March 24, 2017, at 10:30 am. A Memorial Reception will be held immediately following the funeral at The Orinda Country Club, 315 Camino Sobrante, Orinda, California. Commitment will be at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Lafayette.
Donations in Gennaro’s name may be made to the Cal Fund (https://calfund. berkeley.edu/). Please click on “Give Now” on upper right corner of this page. Click “I am giving in memory of someone” and enter Gennaro A. Filice, Jr.