Professor Frank J. Vacante of Wilkes-Barre died September 19th, 2015.
Born in 1933, the only son and oldest child of Viola and Joseph, he graduated from Hazleton High School, served in the US Military, and went on to get his Degree at Bloomsburg State College and Master’s Degree from the University of Indiana. He was a Professor of Business Administration at King’s College for 40 years, as well as a past President of the NE Chapter of CPA’s.
Dad was a teacher by nature and profession. He taught each of his five children how to drive (with varying degrees of success), how to read a map (and refold it correctly), order in a restaurant, and find our own answers to questions (usually by pointing towards the encyclopedias), with the same measure of patience and kindness that he bestowed upon his students. He rarely offered unsolicited advice and loved each enough to allow us to make our own mistakes… always wishing us the best of luck in our choices…..never criticizing if we eventually changed our minds. Our Mom kept us fed daily, but Dad was in charge of the specialties: Clams casino, limoncello, homemade pizza and bread, and his famous bananas foster. Throughout our childhood, he was a staunch believer that scraped knees and broken hearts could be mended with jelly donuts, canned fruit cocktail and new outfits. They always worked.
He loved his garden, Major League Baseball (He traveled to every MLB stadium in the US), Sherlock Holmes, Italy, and Courvoisier, but above all, he loved his Wife of 59 years, Patricia, by whom he is survived. In addition, Frank leaves behind his sister Marie Perry (Hazleton, PA), Children: Mary Beth Consalvi and her husband Dennis (Voorhees, NJ), Kathy Winters and her husband Randal (Warminster, PA), Joseph Vacante and his wife Vyonne (Shavertown, PA), Lorri Ercolani, and her husband, Robert (Youngsville, NC) and Kristan Cicero and her husband Joseph (Valencia, CA), as well as 11 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandsons.
Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, a memorial donation may be made to the Osterhaut Library, 71 S. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701.