Carmine J. Rappucci

Carmine J. Rappucci, 69, of Wilmington, DE, passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday, September 6, 2016. Carmen was born a first generation Italian-American on February 22, 1947, in Chester, PA to Raffaele (“Ralph”) Rappucci and Concetta (“Jean”) Tomei. He grew up in Norwood and Ridley Township before settling with his wife and children in Wilmington, DE. Dedicated to his family and committed to giving them a better life, Carmen worked many jobs and started multiple businesses. He started his professional career at Westinghouse, where he worked his way from janitor to Manager of their Defense Division, based in Baltimore, MD, where he retired in 1990. In his spare time, he founded and ran Ralph & Carmen’s Sporting Goods, used his experience of working for his father in the shoe shop to run Carmen’s Shoe Repair in the F&N shopping center in Wilmington, and owned Café Rossini restaurant in Newark, DE. He went on to establish and co-own multiple successful mortgage companies, including Sunset Mortgage and Mortgage Network Solutions. Carmen was active and well-known in the community, having served as President of the Athletic Association at St. Mary Magdalen, Grand Knight of Pius X council of the Knights of Columbus, and as a member of the Delaware County Field & Stream and Delaware County Sportsmen’s gun clubs. He was a regular at the Aston Diner on Saturdays for breakfast. He had many friends and touched many people with his warm smile, engaging and charismatic personality, no-nonsense opinions and advice, and genuine concern for the people he loved; he was a friend, brother, second father, uncle, mentor, confidant, and shoulder to cry on. Carmen will be dearly missed by his loving wife of 47 years, Cheryl, his children, Ralph Christopher (Maria), Michael (Melissa), and Gina, his seven grandchildren whom he loved so much, Mia, Isabella, Carina, Siena, Michael, Nina, and Kyle, and his sisters Rose Marie (Dan Minnick) and Libbera (Jack Zukowski). Visitation will be held on Saturday, September 10, 2016 from 9:30 am until 11:30 am at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 7 Sharpley Road, Wilmington, DE 19803, with Mass immediately following. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Carmen’s memory to the American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org). For online condolences please visit chandlerfuneralhome.com 302-478-7100