Joseph S. Formica

Joseph S. (Joe) Formica, devoted son, loving husband, supportive and exceedingly generous father, and wise and prudent businessman, passed away peacefully at home after a long illness on February 10, 2023.

Born in 1938 in Middletown, CT into a family of modest means and big hearts, he also spent his childhood in Middletown, playing sports, hunting, fishing, and stirring up his share of mischief with friends. He was the only child of his hardworking mother, Maria (Faggione) Anulewicz, who, with the help of her sisters, and later, his stepfather, Frank "Jackie" Anulewicz raised him and encouraged him to pursue a college degree. Maria and Jackie pre-deceased him in 2018 and 1989, respectively. He attended Becker Junior College in Worcester, MA, where he met and fell in love with Helen "Pinky" Staniszewski, graduating with his Associate of Science degree in 1958. He went on to complete his Bachelor's degree in Public Relations from Boston University in 1960 and he and Helen married in 1961 and remained happily so until her death in August of 2022. He was a member of the Army Reserve but was never called to active duty. Joe was ahead of his time in his perspective on working women and gender equality, encouraging even expecting his two daughters, Marcia and Pamela, to pursue their professional passions and independence from an early age and supporting their every educational and career move. As they earned their driver's licenses, he insisted that they also learn to change a flat tire and their oil. They and their husbands, Tim Fieweger and Victor Arballo, his grandsons James and Owen Fieweger, and step-granddaughter, Eve Moeykens-Arballo, all survive him. He spent several years of his early business life in public accounting with the firm known at the time as Ernst & Ernst (now EY). He passed the CPA exam, maintaining his CPA designation until his retirement. His post-public accounting career spanned various controllership and finance roles of increasing responsibility with different divisions of Scovill Manufacturing, the predecessor to the the ill-fated but iconic Century Brass in Waterbury, CT. When Scovill sold its Waterbury brass manufacturing operations to a group of investors in the mid-1970s, the investors called upon Joe to become their Corporate Controller, and eventually, CFO, providing him the ability to move Helen and his daughters back to the seat of their extended family in Connecticut from North Carolina, where they'd relocated for a career advancement opportunity for Joe with Scovill's Fluid Products division in the early 1970s. Over the years, he also participated in various manufacturing partnership concerns, and later, private business consulting, applying his extensive cost and financial accounting and broader financial expertise to operations and decision making. He was viewed by colleagues as a thoughtful, unselfish leader and mentor, forging strong and resilient professional relationships that withstood the decades. Closer to home, he always made himself available to friends and family to offer financial advice or to lend a hand at tax time. Joe's quiet and private exterior belied a dry and sarcastic, yet hilarious and even sometimes goofy sense of humor, especially when in the company of his closest family and friends. He loved making his daughters and grandchildren laugh, inventing silly words and stories. His appreciation of the outdoors continued well through adulthood and retirement where he was a prolific vegetable gardener and took great pride and joy in maintaining the mostly wooded property to which he had moved the family with the Century Brass relocation.

He was intense and passionate in his hobbies as well, earning his private pilot's license, teaching himself DIY electronics where his projects included building everything from digital clocks and clock radios to electronic doorbells to a large remote-controlled TV, and just about every essential homeowner skill from basic plumbing and wiring to carpentry. Despite his outward professional acumen, he was perhaps best defined by his grit, humility, and the tremendous sense of responsibility he felt to his family. There was no job he took more seriously than that of fatherhood, ensuring an environment in which his daughters would grow up with the strong bond so many siblings shared, which, as an only child, he felt he'd missed out on. He succeeded wildly. The family will be forever grateful for the love, attention, and compassion of Joe's caregiver team: Hannah, Angella, and Claudette made a huge difference and went far to make his last few years as good as they could possibly have been. And for the past 20 months, his hospice team, especially Nicole and Elena, provided Joe, and his daughters, with a special kind of wisdom and support. Their impact cannot be properly measured. A Memorial Service will be held at the Meriden Memorial Funeral Home, 450 Broad Street in Meriden, on Saturday, February 25. Calling hours will begin at 11:00 AM with a brief service at 12:00 PM. A private burial will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation in memory of Joe to a dementia or hospice charity that is meaningful to the mourner. For online condolences or directions visit: www.meridenmemorialfh.com