Thomas D. Pontarelli, July 28, 1928-Jan. 9, 2022

Glenview's Thomas Pontarelli was a tough act to follow.

His oldest child, also Tom, would know.

"I can't tell you how many times we'd be somewhere and people would ask us if we were brothers," the younger Pontarelli said.

"He was extremely good looking with a sparkling pair of blue eyes. They didn't do a lot for me, but women would always tell me, 'Your dad has the most incredible blue eyes.' I guess it's fairly unusual for a guy with two Italian parents (Tomaso and Louise), but that's the way it turned out."

It turned out to be a wonderful life for blue-eyed Thomas D. Pontarelli, 93, who died on Jan. 9. In a private family ceremony his ashes will be interred along with those of his late wife of 60 years, Gerry, on the date of their wedding anniversary, Jan. 29. The former Geraldine Harte died in September 2009 at 80 years old.

"He wanted to rejoin my mother in the worst way. His time had come," Tom Pontarelli said.

A funeral Mass and celebration of life will be held at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in mid- to late-May when people can gather more safely, he said.

Tom is the eldest of Thomas and Gerry Pontarelli's seven children. The family started to grow soon after the couple moved in 1954 to Glenview from the Northwest Side of Chicago. Mr. Pontarelli also had 17 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

"They all knew him well, and he managed even as he was in his over-90 years still to have relationships with the little 3-year-olds, 5-year-olds, college-age kids, all kinds of descendants of his," Tom Pontarelli said.

"He lived a blessed life in that he was able to watch not only his own kids grow but subsequently his grandkids grow, and then his great grandkids, the oldest of which is 20 years old."

Born July 28, 1928, Mr. Pontarelli was 21 when after three years of courtship he married his high school sweetheart in January 1949.

An all-state pitcher and shortstop at Steinmetz High School in 1946, he briefly attended North Park University on Chicago's Far North Side then listened to an offer from the Chicago Cubs. He was assigned to play for the Cubs' low minor league entry in Clinton, Iowa.

Gerry was not on board, Tom said.

"In her opinion to go play Class D baseball was not a very good idea," said Tom Pontarelli, 72. "He continued to play for some semipro teams, but then he started working in what my mother would consider a more serious career from that point forward."

Interested initially in menswear, Mr. Pontarelli co-founded the Chicago School of Tailoring, and later founded The House of Casuals, a men's clothing store that had Chicago locations on the North Side and in the Loop.

His main profession came in life insurance, as a broker specializing in estate, pension and business planning, according to Mr. Pontarelli's obituary from Donnellan Family Funeral Services in Skokie.

He became a life member of the Million Dollar Round Table, president of the Lake County Life Underwriters Association and a delegate to the Illinois Life Insurance Association. He remained in life insurance until 2014, when he was 84, the obituary said.

"He was a salesman all of his life. He was quite outgoing, and he seemed to find ways to touch people's lives," Tom Pontarelli said.

Mr. Pontarelli touched a lot of them simply in the course of being a father to seven children. He coached them in the sports he used to play, baseball and hockey, the latter on outdoor rinks before the Park District Ice Center was built in 1972.

Joining Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish upon moving to Glenview, Mr. Pontarelli co-founded and became president of the OLPH Men's Club, which his son, Tom, said was established primarily to aid parish athletic programs.

In 1979 Mr. Pontarelli won the OLPH Mario Zanoni memorial award, named after a friend who coached OLPH grade school football teams, and also happened to work in life insurance.

After attending OLPH School, the Pontarelli boys - Tom, Larry, Patrick, Dan and Tim - headed to Loyola Academy in Wilmette. The girls - Eileen and Mary Beth - attended Regina Dominican High School also in Wilmette.

And so, Mr. Pontarelli became a member and president of the board at Regina and also was a board member at Loyola, the Donnellan obituary reported. He twice was chairman of Loyola's fundraiser, The Ramble, in 1979 and for its 50th anniversary in 2018, said Robin Hunt, Loyola's director of public relations.

Thomas and Gerry Pontarelli owned property in Florida for decades, Tom said, and in their active later years split time between Glenview and Ponce Inlet on Florida's east coast.

Maybe too active at times.

"He was 86, and I called him one day and I heard this wind noise. I asked him what that wind noise was, and he said, 'I'm up on the roof cleaning the gutters,'" Tom Pontarelli said.

That's young man's work, but Mr. Pontarelli didn't think much about age.

"I think his greatest attribute was his ability to establish relationships with people of all ages, and not just in his family," Tom said.

"Since he's died I've had people send me text messages and emails talking about the affect he had on their lives. These were guys that he coached, or their brothers, my friends who sort of grew up with him. I think he had a genuine interest in people and he listened to them."

In lieu of flowers, the family instead would request a contribution to Sister Paulanne's Needy Family Fund at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. For information visit the Donnellan Family Funeral Services website, www.donnellanfuneral.com.