Ronald Joseph Tocchini
RONALD TOCCHINI passed away at his San Mateo home on Thursday, September 21, 2017. He was born during 1941 in San Francisco to Remo and Susan (Ercolini) Tocchini.
Ron grew up in San Francisco’s Marina District, enrolled at St. Ignatius College Preparatory school (class of 1959), and lettered at SI in track and field, basketball, and football. He attended the University of Notre Dame on a football scholarship, made the Dean’s academic list, and later took a degree in Italian literature at Notre Dame in 1964. After working in the family business for several years, he returned to college in his late 20s and earned a California secondary education teaching credential. He later attended graduate school at Lone Mountain College and the University of California at Berkeley.
Ron went on to teach and coach football at several high schools in the Bay Area, including Marin Catholic and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory school. Eventually leaving secondary education to teach undergraduate students, he retired in 2012 from City College of San Francisco after teaching Spanish and Italian for over 40 years. Retirement provided Ron with an opportunity for further work; he researched, wrote, and published several books on international travel and the California migrant experience.
A devoted athlete and sports fan, Ron had been active in the St. Ignatius and Notre Dame alumni networks since the 1960s. He has influenced and mentored hundreds of young people in San Francisco, and his students have gone onward to become successful business leaders, priests, professional athletes, lawyers, doctors, scientists, and other public servants.
Ronald Tocchini was preceded in death by his parents, his older brother Loring, and his daughter Josephine. He is survived by his brother Fred (Sylvia), his sister Susan, his sister-inlaw Cezanne, his partner Virginia “Gigi” Guglielimino, his children Ronald (Lilia), Rose (Shannon), and Joseph (Michelle), as well as over 40 nephews, nieces, cousins, and grandchildren, both here in the US and in Italy.
Ron’s integrity and generosity were matched only by a love of family and a deep personal faith. He will be missed.
A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at 10am on Thursday, September 28th at St. Ignatius Church (Charles Gagan SJ, celebrant), 650 Parker Ave., San Francisco. Interment to follow at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma. The Tocchini family will receive friends and relatives at 2:30pm in North Beach at the Original Joe’s historical landmark restaurant in San Francisco.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks you to consider memorial donations to the Carlin Heritage Society for student scholarships at St. Ignatius College Preparatory. For those friends and family members who are unable to attend services, condolences may be left online by e-mailing the family at contact@lawgate.us. Requiescat in pace.