Anthony Paolucci, an industrial arts teacher at Lewiston-Porter High School until he was forced to retire in January after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, died Tuesday (Feb. 18, 2003) in Hospice Buffalo. The Town of Tonawanda resident was 62.
"He put up a valiant fight," his wife, Maureen, said Thursday.
Born at home in Buffalo, Paolucci was an Air Force veteran and graduate of Buffalo State College.
He was a former administrator at Buffalo State and operated Custom Tee Shirts on South Park Avenue before moving to Florida to build homes from 1985 to 1990.
After returning to the area, he taught at the Niagara-Orleans Board of Cooperative Educational Services for several years before moving to Lew-Port in 2000.
He was a member of Delta Kappa fraternity. Members of the Master Khechen School of Tae Kwon-Do plan to present him with a posthumous black belt in the sport.
He also loved woodworking and spending time at his cabin in Blooming Hills in Freedom.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Alicia Marie, and a son, Jonah Michael, both of the Town of Tonawanda; and two sisters, Elisa Roesser of Elma and Nancy Zuchowski of Jamestown.
Services will be at 9 a.m. Saturday in C. Mertz & Son Funeral Home, 911 Englewood Ave., Town of Tonawanda, followed at 9:30 by a Mass of Christian Burial in St. Andrew's Church, Sheridan Drive and Elmwood Avenue, Town of Tonawanda. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
