Community mourns former Prospect Hts. officer

Friends and family of Donald Ficarotta are remembering the former Prospect Heights police officer as a dedicated law enforcement official who never once complained during his 16-year battle with the disease that ultimately took his life.

Ficarotta died Jan. 27 from complications of Huntington's disease. He was 52.

“He never complained, not even once, and he was never sad,” said his sister, Dianna Janes. “He just did all he could to get well.

Before joining the Prospect Heights police force, Ficarotta served in the United States Marine Corps for 7½ years, where he was a drill sergeant and a paratrooper.

After leaving the military, he started on the path to becoming a police officer. While at police academy, he met fellow cadet Al Steffen, now Prospect Heights' deputy chief.

The pair were among the first 17 officers hired by the then new Prospect Heights Police Department, and would remain friends for life.

“You could count on him to give himself if he was needed,” Steffen said. “He had a definite higher calling and a sense of duty.”

Ficarotta served in the department for nine years before being diagnosed with Huntington's in 1999.

Janes said her brother took his diagnosis in stride, even as the disease progressed and he became unable to live independently. He spent the last nine years at Pine Acres Nursing Home in DeKalb, where he died last month surrounded by family.

Janes said her brother received a great amount of support from his colleagues in Prospect Heights throughout his battle with the disease.

“They were all very close,” Janes said. “They came whenever they could, they were just fabulous.”

Steffen said Ficarotta's diagnosis led the department to create the Prospect Heights Police Association, which raised money to support Ficarotta as well as other area police officers in need of help. Steffen said it was hard for them to see the disease take away their friend.

“It was a terrible to watch him go through his ordeal and watch him waste away over nine years,” Steffen said.

Janes said services have been performed for her brother, but he will be buried in the spring with full military honors at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood.