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Our good college friend "Catfish" was born February 25, 1956.
He was a devoted son, brother, husband, father, uncle, neighbor and co-worker.
Preceded in death by his father John Catapano (January 2009).
Jim is survived by his mother, Rose Marie Catapano, brother and sister-in law, Ron
and Kelly Catapano, two sisters and son-in-law, Elaine Marotto and Angela and Rich
Lant and of course his wife Jill, son Trevor and two daughters Briana and Ashley.
Jim loved his family and they loved him and provided tremendous support throughout
his life which is where he received his traditional family values and strong work
ethic.
Jim attended church weekly and through a North Carolina organization was planning
to establish a community center in Peru which demonstrates that his compassion not
only goes to his family and friends but even to his community and complete strangers.
For many years, Jim has been sponsoring two young orphaned children in Peru, and
supporting them with monthly donations for food and medicine. Jim pre-planned all
of his funeral arrangements and specifically asked through the email below, that
he wanted to establish a memorial college scholarship fund for these two foster
children.
If you want to make a donation, address checks payable to Advent Peru Mission Support
Fund, with Catapano Education Fund on the memo line. Then mail to Ron Catapano 68
Narwood Road, Massapequa, NY 11758. (516) 798-0412 3)
Jim was a very humble man, who seemed to prefer to talk with his family and friends
about their lives and issues rather than discuss his own career and work challenges
at Midas. As you remember, Jim started career at Midas just after earning his degree
from college, rising from an inexperienced mechanic at the Oswego store to store
manager. He was promoted to regional manager, then district supervisor overseeing
70 stores on Long Island and New Jersey. Jim bought several Midas stores in Arizona,
met Jill, and returned to NY to become national vice president in charge of company
owned stores. He moved to Charlotte for a competitive position and boomeranged back
to Midas and probably could have been promoted to a higher position if he were to
move his family to Chicago.
But family always came first and Jim was very content to serve in a senior management
position to turnaround Midas operations and help his store managers succeed but
the priority was to enjoy a high quality of life in Charlotte with his wife and
children. Jim told me recently that his boss Dave Fisher, and his associates at
Midas were responsible for the tremendous success of his region, which has been
the #1 performing region in the country (out of 39) for the past few years throughout
2009.
Jim said that the operational and financial performance difference between #1 and
#2 was huge and so I assume that Jim was the difference thanks to his management
supervision and attention to detail. Jim's success as a manager in business
is an amazing achievement when you consider that he was working for Midas through
late June while battling his illness, taking care of his family in Charlotte and
their personal issues, all while there is a deep recession in the automotive industry.
I've met some of his coworkers that have repaired my car, and have been told
by three store managers and mechanics how much they respect him as a management
coach and leader and that they enjoyed his warm personality, values, compassion
and business acumen. Jim was one of those few people I could turn to to help me
in my career and we had many conversations about business over the past 34 years.
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