Joseph Zinicola

Joseph “Peppino” Zinicola, 98 of Stamford, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family on Tuesday, April 16th, 2024. He was born in Santa Maria Infante, Minturno, Italy on July 18th, 1925 to Benny Zinicola and Vincenza Valente.
Joseph entered the Naval College at Venice in 1943 in the Royal Italian Navy. He was captured by the German forces after the Italian Armistice and was then transferred through several prison camps in central Europe before escaping back to Venice. During this time, he served on a firefighting vessel in Venice, while also smuggling weapons to partisans fighting the Nazi occupiers. He was discharged from the Italian Navy in 1948, and took up work as a truck driver helping to rebuild his country. He also spent much time riding his motorbike up and down the Italian coast.
He immigrated to the United States after he married the love of his life, Josephine Mallozzi Zinicola, on August 18, 1952, in Minturno, Italy. He worked a variety of jobs in Brooklyn before moving to Stamford in 1955. He worked for the Stamford Housing Authority for nearly 30 years as a boiler mechanic, where he took pride in providing heat at the Myano Lane buildings and Southfield Village. He was a longtime parishioner of St. Maurice Church and the oldest living member of the Minturnese Club. He loved to attend his grandchildren’s sporting events, fixing just about anything in his workshop and was a lover of dogs.
He is survived by his loving sons, Anthony (Lily) and Joseph (Norma), as well as his four grandchildren, Sophia, Joshua, Christina, and Michael. Also surviving is a nephew, John Zinicola (Anna), niece Maria Zinicola, and great nieces and nephews, Paul, Patricia Anthony, AnnMarie, and Susy.
In addition to his parents, Joseph was predeceased by his loving wife of 66 years, Josephine Mallozzi Zinicola, his siblings, Nicola, Caterina, and Antonio Zinicola, his sister-in-law Assunta Mallozzi Zinicola, and mother-in-law, Antonia Trionfo Mallozzi.
A funeral procession will be leaving the Nicholas F. Cognetta Funeral Home & Crematory, 104 Myrtle Avenue, Stamford on Monday, April 22, 2024 at 9:15 AM for a Mass of Christian Burial to be celebrated at 10:00 AM at St. Maurice RC Church,358 Glenbrook Road, Stamford. Entombment will follow at ST. John’s Mausoleum, Darien. Family and friends may call at the funeral home on Sunday, April 21, 2024 from 3:00-6:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Joseph’s memory to Lucky Dog Refuge CT, 36 Pulaski St, Stamford, CT 0690

To leave online condolences, please visit www.cognetta.com