Robert Zucchini

Obituary – Robert Zucchini

January 11th, 1921, was a glorious day for the parents of Robert John Zucchini, son of Eticino Eutichiano and Arpulice Marangoni Zucchini in St. Louis, MO. That very Tuesday marked the birth of their son Robert, (aka Bob, Bobbie, Pappa, “your father”, Chef Roberto, and good ol’ Dad) and the beginning of his over 100 years in this world guided by his Catholic faith, his determined and hardworking ethic, and his commitment to family.

And in the early morning of March 2nd, 2021, Robert passed peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by family. He is survived by his 8 children, as well as his 23 grandchildren, and 21 great grandchildren.

Most people would describe him as a dangerously handsome man, a 1st generation Italian with all the machismo and charisma that went with it. A proud man, but not falsely so, but well deserved by the way he lived his life. You see, he was a good man, a man with deep integrity and a fairness that never failed; a theme that guided the most important decisions of his life.

In fact, it was just 24 hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War II that he joined the Marine Corps because he was driven by his unrelenting duty to his country. Not long after his four year stint, he met his beautiful wife of 74 years, Marcella. And like a force of nature, they shared a life together raising their children, a deep sharing of their Catholic faith, world travel, and their passion for all things ancient and beautiful in the form of the timeless antiques that filled the ol’ barn on Seminole St. in Springfield, MO. For many years he tirelessly worked for his father-in-law at Savage Sign Company, and eventually bought the business and enjoyed the fruits of his labor as it thrived under his stewardship.

In many ways he was way ahead of his time. He started recycling and composting in the 1970’s before most people even knew what they were. And as a successful businessman, he approached diversity in the workplace long before it was trendy. Among his hires were blacks, whites, Asians, young, old, women, hippies, and the disabled.

And his endearing soft spot for the “underdog” and his empathy for the less fortunate showed up in countless ways. For many years he car-pooled one of his disabled employees to and from work. And his volunteering at Nathanael Green Park is memorialized to this day by an engraved paver.

After he retired in his sixties, he wasn’t content to succumb to the comforts of a couch, a cruise ship or computer screen, for his hands were designed to toil in the soil, grow things, chop, saw, split and rake. Always committed to reinventing himself, he took up downhill skiing. In his seventies, he mastered wood turning and carved out the most dazzling bowls one can imagine. And in his eighties, he built a gorgeous new home, all the while landscaping his beautiful yard on Seminole St. to perfection.

In his late nineties his focus shifted gracefully to his wife as her health began to decline. And in the words of his eldest daughter Marciann Patton, “Dad has shown us how to be good and devoted care-givers by his example with Mom, never taking his eye off her, never letting up, day or night.”

On September 16th, 2020, his wife Marcella passed away peacefully in her sleep. And for the remaining 167 days of his life, Robert mourned his loss and no doubt his own heartache contributed to his passing.

In the end, if the measure of someone’s life is whether or not they left this world a better place, indeed Robert John Zucchini succeeded in that quest for he was a good man, a man with deep integrity and a fairness that never failed. And like his wife Marcella, surely his greatest legacy would be in the kindness and character of those he brought into this world.

May God bless him on his journey home and his tender reunion with the love of his life.

In lieu of the current Covid-19 pandemic, funeral services will be held privately.

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