James R. Zucali
November 23, 2022
James Richard Zucali (80) of Gainesville, Florida passed away November 23,2022.
Whether you remember him as Jim, Jimmy, Zeke, dad, or papa you know that he was a quiet and loyal man.
He was born February 12, 1942 in Ohio and made lifelong friends in childhood. While attending St Edward High School and Kent State University, Zeke played football. He was described by his teammates as a quiet leader and standout player. In 2015 he was honored to be inducted into his high school athletic hall of fame.
While at Kent State University, he met Jackie, his wife. They moved to Nebraska and New York before finally settling in Gainesville, Florida.
Jim worked at Shands Hospital publishing countless research papers in hematology and oncology and serving on the national board of professional organizations.
He made close friends with his neighbors and often hosted their Friday night gatherings. After retirement, this group would enjoy cruising together.
Jim and Jackie lived a busy and fulfilling life. With his family, he travelled all over the United States, the Caribbean, France, and the Netherlands. He cheered his children’s sports teams and attended Gator football games for many years (though his favorite team was always Notre Dame).
He loved being papa to his two grandchildren and was the recipient of many wonderful drawings from them.
Jim was preceded in death by his loving wife of 55 years, Jackie. He is survived by his daughter Jill (Jeff Bazinet), his son Jeff, his daughter Joelle (Boyd Martin), and his two grandchildren, Julien and Jamison.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to Catholic Charities USA.
View current weather.
Guestbook
Sign the Guestbook, Light a Candle
Hugs to all of you.
As an obituary, I thought I’d provide some highlights of my knowing Jim (Zeke) Zucali over about 69 years. I first met Jim as a freshman at Kent State in 1960. We both were on the freshman football team. He was from Cleveland, as was I; living not too far away on the westside but having gone to different high schools. He was an only child, but never showed the conceits of such. In all the years, I never saw him angry or upset. In other words, he took things with a degree of equanimity few others demonstrate. Or to resort to something of a cliche, he simply put his head down and got things done, whether on the football field as a linebacker, or otherwise. He was an honorable mention Mid-American Conference player in 1962, his junior year. He switched majors then pursuing a career in science, which was certainly a challenge from the physical ed major he started out with.
And then he met Jackie at Kent. It was – as it turned out – a match made in heaven. From almost different poles of the country. She from Long Island; he from the blue collar westside of Cleveland. After college graduation they got married. I was in the wedding at, not a church, but – and maybe they were unique to Long Island – a “wedding venue” – a really ornate facility. It had four simultaneous weddings that day and a grand sweeping main staircase for pictures of the wedding party. I remember asking Jackie’s father about the cost. And maybe it was because Jackie was an only child that you would spare no expense, but I remember him saying $7,000. – which I thought as astronomical. Nevertheless, it was worth the expense, then and over the years to come.
It was hardly predictable from those early days at Kent that Jim would go on to get a PhD. And it was even less predictable that he would fall victim to the paralysis that affected him over the thirty some years of his life; and that he would be confined to at best a wheelchair. That bad luck had to be offset by having Jackie as his wife, mother of the children, and helper with his day-to-day activities. Who knows what his life would have been like without her. And then in March 2022 she passed away rather abruptly, leaving Jim, for the first time in almost forty years to fend for himself.
To be continued…
Continued…
While Jim and Jackie moved around while he got his advanced degrees, eventually ending up in Gainesville, I went to Washington, DC where I spent over fifty years. Our contact was sporadic until about 2006 when we were in touch and with my to-be wife visited them in Gainesville. By then as I recall the children had grown, or at least they weren’t living at home. From then on, we visited Jim and Jackie in Gainesville it seems now like every few years, even attending the wedding of Joelle (I believe) in Jacksonville.
Statistics show all too readily that with the passing of one spouse, the surviving spouse all too easily shows the loss and an inability to carry on. We sometimes wish that those we know are super-human, but the reality is that with our advancing age it becomes more-and-more difficult to look to the future. That, unfortunately, was Jim’s case. Whereas he could be expected to grin and bear it, give his affliction, without Jackie it was an overwhelming burden. Perhaps, it is fitting that given the amount of cruising they did – which was perhaps the only vacation that Jim could handle – it is filling that they’ve been cremated and their ashes to be spread at sea.
From the Welsh Poet Dylan Thomas on the death of his father (1943)
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.
David Jones
Williamsburg, VA
Sad to hear of the passing of Jim. I was a former graduate student under Jim at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo. He served as my PhD advisor and equally important, launched my career in medicine. I owe my early success and likely a large part of my professional success to Jim’s recognition that I might be worth investing his time in. Following his career through publications, it is clear he served as mentor for many over his decades of contribution to science. After many years, I had the opportunity to speak to Jim and to Jackie early in 2022. It was great to reconnect even if briefly after all these years. I wish the family well and fond memories. But also know how much Jim contributed through his professional life.
Sad to hear of the passing of Jim. I was a former graduate student under Jim at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo. He served as my PhD advisor and equally important, launched my career in medicine. I owe my early success and likely a large part of my professional success to Jim’s recognition that I might be worth investing his time in. Following his career through publications, it is clear he served as mentor for many over his decades of contribution to science. After many years, I had the opportunity to speak to Jim and to Jackie early in 2022. It was great to reconnect even if briefly after all these years. I wish the family well and fond memories. But also know how much Jim contributed through his professional life.