Family and friends remember longtime suburban funeral director

For decades, Joseph Salerno served as a source of comfort for thousands of families and friends throughout the suburbs,

On Thursday, those family, friends and peers remembered and celebrated the 78-year-old funeral director who was the owner and CEO of Salerno's Rosedale in Roselle and Galewood Chapels in Chicago. Salerno died Saturday after a lengthy illness.

"My dad only had a few things that he enjoyed in his life, and one of them was work. He spent all of his time at work," said his son, George Salerno. "In our business, work is helping people in a very difficult time, so that's all my dad was about."

Salerno entered the family business in the early 1960s and became president of the operation in 1995. Under his tutelage, the family in 1994 opened Salerno's Rosedale Chapels, at 450 W Lake St., Roselle. It was at this time George also entered the family business after completing law school.

"It was part of my dad's DNA," George Salerno said. "He was born in it and he died in it."

Peers in the funeral director community looked up to Salerno.

"Mr. Salerno was an upstanding and diligent funeral director who served his community with quiet dignity and grace," said Stephen Dawson, owner of Sax-Teidemann Funeral Home and past president of the Funeral Directors Services Association of Chicago. "He will be missed by many of his peers."

Tony Cappetta, owner of West Suburban Funeral Home in Westmont, called Salerno an "inspirational figure."

"He was a true gentleman and he was a source of comfort to all the families he served throughout the years," Cappetta said. "He was a credit to our profession. and always helpful to other funeral directors."

"He was my dad, but he was the most humble, generous, charitable guy you'd ever want to meet. He'd do anything to help anyone out," George Salerno said. "He wanted to enrich people's lives and make an impact. He never turned his back on anybody."

Salerno, when not at work, also served as the chairman of the board for the Roselle Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was past director of the Bloomingdale Lions Club and served as a Bloomingdale Township trustee, among many other positions.

DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin said "everybody loved Joe."

"He was always there for his community. Joe was a kind, generous, sweet man," Cronin said.

"He will be missed."

Visitation will be held from 1 to 9 p.m. today at Salerno's Rosedale Chapels, 450 W. Lake St. in Roselle. The funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:45 a.m. Saturday at St. Isidore Catholic Church, 427 W. Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale.