Anthony “Tony” Palermo, Jr.

Relatives and friends are requested to meet for the Mass of Christian Burial for Anthony “Tony” Palermo, 90, of Concord Township, at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 27, 2017, at St. Gabriel Catholic Church, 9925 Johnnycake Ridge Rd., Mentor, OH 44060. Father Jeremy Merzweiler will officiate. Burial will be private at All Souls Cemetery at a later date. Mr. Palermo died peacefully on Wednesday, July 19 at his Concord Township home, surrounded by three generations of devoted loved ones. His daughter Patricia cared for Tony these last many years and was determined to keep him at home. She succeeded beautifully.

Palermo was born on September 22, 1926 in Cleveland, OH and previously resided in East Cleveland, Euclid, South Euclid, and Chesterland before moving to Concord Township nearly 5 years ago.

He graduated from Collinwood High School in 1944 and dutifully served in the United States Army Air Corps until the end of World War II. He was a Case Institute of Technology alumnus who later had an illustrious 45-year career at Picker X-Ray Corporation before retirement in 1994. At Picker, Palermo became chief engineer and developed x-ray systems before transferring to the CAT Scan Division (CT) to become Electrical Engineering Manager of the CT group where he had numerous CT patents issued. In 1986 he was responsible for a major breakthrough in CT technology with the development of the Picker 10 Scanner, the world’s first slip ring technology scanner that paved the way for subsequent high-speed CT scanners.

Palermo was very active in the community, volunteering as a Cub Scout leader, umpire for Little League teams, and later president of the South Euclid Historical Society. In 19751976, he was a member of the Bicentennial Little Red School House Historical Society, when he helped restore the school building at Richmond and Mayfield Roads in Lyndhurst. He also authored a book about the Little Red School House and subsequently worked to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places.

Palermo founded the South Euclid Historical Museum on the grounds of the South Euclid County Library and was its president from 1976-1986. From 1977-1982, he authored the history book of St. Gregory the Great Church in South Euclid.

He was a contributing author to many publications such as Cleveland Magazine, Western Reserve University, The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standard Handbook, and the American Society for Metals Handbook.

His latest book, about the Bluestone Quarries in South Euclid, was self-published just this spring. Entitled, “Bluestone: A Past Remembered,” the tome chronicles the colorful past of Bluestone, a small village near the intersection of Green and Bluestone roads in South Euclid from the late 19th into the early 20th century.

Palermo was a professional musician and member of the Cleveland Federation of Musicians Local 4 since 1950. An active accordionist, he performed at numerous Cleveland Indians games with tenor Rocco Scotti, and for luminaries including Jimmy Stewart, George McGovern, Senator Hubert Humphrey, Hank Aaron, Jesse Owens, Bob Feller, Pat Buchanan, Senator Edward Kennedy, and George Steinbrenner. His accordion is now on display at A World of Accordions Museum in Superior, Wisconsin.

Among his favorite musicians were the Romani jazz great Django Reinhardt, American fiddler Mark O’Connor, tenor and movie star legend Mario Lanza, Italian singer Gabriella Ferri, and American jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli.

Palermo is survived by a sister, Carol Ann Schmidlin of Lewisville, NC; five children, David, Patricia, Nancy Shaw, James, and Jeanne (Angelo) DiCristofano; as well as ten grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; numerous nieces, nephews; great-nieces, great-nephews; and friends. He is preceded in death by his beloved wife Margaret (Packer) Palermo; sons, Thomas and Steven; parents, Anthony and Sblendora; brothers, Nicholas and Raymond; and sister, Madeline (Joseph) Bordonaro.

Tony’s three greatest regrets included forgetting to return a book on metallurgy to the local public library, an infraction he took 42 years to remedy, burning down a field while baking a potato outside during the Great Depression, and getting stuck half way up while attempting to scale Mt. Baldy as a teenager. He recovered magnificently from all three missteps.

Donations in memory of Tony can be made to The Anthony Palermo ’49 Family Scholarship Fund at Case Alumni Association, Tomlinson Hall, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106.

The family will receive friends to pay tribute to and celebrate the life of Tony on Wednesday, July 26 from 5 to 8 p.m. at The DeJohn-Flynn-Mylott Funeral Home of Willoughby Hills, 28890 Chardon Rd. (44092) (between Bishop Rd. and Rt. 91). www.DeJohnCares.com.