Iris Iaccarino

Iris Iaccarino, ne Iris Violeta Arocho Ortega, of Stamford, passed away peacefully on Thursday, September 30, 2021 at St. Camillus of Stamford. She was 93 years old.

Iris was born in Jayuya, Puerto Rico on September 13, 1928 to the late Ramon Arocho and Flor Ortega, and grew up in Puerto Rico. She came to live in Brooklyn NY when she was 18 y/o (1947), where she would meet and marry Richard Iaccarino, who passed in 2006.

Iris was a loving, wise, mother devoted to her children, and also a role model of a purpose-driven career. She distinguished herself in her career as a union representative in the ILGWU, breaking through the wall excluding women in management, in 1977 becoming along with one other woman, the first women in management in the ILGWU, at Local 91 in NYC.

Circa 1980, Iris was awarded the Borinquen Woman of The Year Award, in recognition of all the Latina women and their families she had helped.

The legacy of her social justice work is reflected in that all three of her children created careers that are sourced in the aspiration to uplift the quality of life of those whose lives they touch.

In 2016, Iris moved to Connecticut to live with her daughter Sandra. She made a second home of The Riverhouse Adult Day Center, where she enjoyed the company of friends and staff, and a spiritual community of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Stamford.

Iris is survived by 2 daughters, Iris Zvi, and Sandra Eagle, a son Riccardo

Iaccarino and his wife Diane, 6 grandchildren, Teegan Gonzalez, Zachary Eagle and his partner Nicole Orsini, Asher Eagle, Dominique Iaccarino, Keith Iaccarino, Nicolas Iaccarino and his partner Jillian Blumstein, and a great-grandson, Jack Nicolas Iaccarino.

Family and friends are invited to the Celebration of Iris’s Life, to be held at the Nicholas F. Cognetta Funeral Home, 104 Myrtle Avenue, Stamford, on Saturday, October 9, 2021 from 12:003:00 p.m. And to gather at Iris’s home afterwards, sharing food and stories and hugs. Zoom link available for those living far away or who otherwise would like to attend remotely.

Donations in her name can be made to The Riverhouse Adult Day Center https://www.theriverhouse. org, or The Unitarian Universalist Congregation https://uustamford.org/ donate.

Interment will be held on Tuesday, Oct 12, at St. Charles cemetery, Farmingdale NY. For details, the zoom link, or questions sandra@sandraeagle.com