Dominick Azzarelli

Dominick Azzarelli lived to tell stories. While most of them were true, some were exaggerated in Dom's certain style: a booming voice, sweeping arm movements, and various hilarious expressions. No matter what kind of story he told, he always told it passionately, finding the right words just at the right moments to weave a tale that you would remember long after he gave you a tight hug, loudly telling you goodnight and to be careful getting home. Usually these stories were unsolicited and focused on one of Dom's many hyperfixations, but whether you cared about the topic he talked about or not, you would at least find anything he said to be interesting.

Dom was a best friend. He would drop anything for just about anyone. Even if he only met them once or saw a stranger struggling in the street, he would drop whatever he was doing to offer a hand. Many who read this obituary probably have a story or two to tell about the different ways he tried to help. Some about him shimmying up ladders or crawling through attics to fix an air conditioning unit, others about helping someone move out of their house with a tray of pizza in one hand and a six pack in the other, and some about Dom offering life advice, forever claiming that there is nothing in this world that can't be fixed. There are some readers who have even spent their own difficult nights with Dom, sharing tears and memories with those who lost their own loved ones. He was unwavering in his loyalty and even if he got a bit frustrated with you, he would still stand by you, a guiding arm to offer support.

Dom was creative. Even though his occupation and background focused on HVAC and welding, he used his construction skills to not only help others, but to create magic. For more than a decade, he designed and built sets for community and school theaters up and down the Lackawanna Valley. An 1800s hotel bar in Providence, a haunted house in Massachusetts, 19th century London (with a sewer section), and a beach house in New Jersey are only a tiny snippet of the worlds he created onstage.

He not only built the worlds, he got to play in them as well, using his natural charisma and comedic timing to charm any audience member. While these efforts seemed easy on the outside, Dom dedicated himself to every part he got to play. For one of his final roles, he portrayed Hercule Poirot in The Case of the Missing Will. For over a month he not only practiced his lines daily, he researched the character, watched other portrayals of Poirot, and learned a little bit of French (along with a fun accent) in the process. This wasn't an isolated moment for him either; he would do his research for every role he got, throwing himself into the part and his pursuit of knowledge.

Before he dedicated himself to local stagecraft and fictional worlds, throughout the early 2000s, Dom also portrayed different historical figures through plays and programs written by his wife and daughter. He especially enjoyed performing and teaching local Lackawanna history to young people, noting how important it was to learn about the place you lived in and the people who built and populated those places. While he was never much for writing himself (his stories being almost always improvised and in person), he did dream of writing a book about the meanings behind different street names in Scranton.

Along with local history, Dom also enjoyed both the writing and lives of Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe. He portrayed both in the past, memorizing different Twain essays, and performing The Raven for multiple venues. It does seem fitting that the last play he was gearing up to work on with his wife and daughter was the Fall of The House of Usher. While he may not be around to see how the brainchild of his stage comes to fruition, the play will be a memorial for him: a creative until the end.

Most importantly though, Dominick Azzarelli loved his family. Growing up in the "Little Alps" of Dunmore, Pennsylvania in the 1970s and 80s, his child and young adulthood seemed like something straight out of a movie. As adults, during the holidays, usually over homemade wine, him, along with his two older brothers and sister, would rehash every story they had about their lives in Dunmore and the neighborhood of characters they grew up around. The siblings' children would usually sit in stunned silence as their parents would shoot name after name at each other, recalling who they were, their family tree, and any story they had about them and how it related to some childhood memory with the family. Once used to the rhythm of these conversations, the places, people, and stories became clearer and incredibly entertaining. A few that could be used for a sitcom would be: the time young Dom got stuck in a sewer drain on Oak Street, when Dom fell out of a tree and broke his arm right before his first Holy Communion, and once when Dom had to hop a fence to pick up Great Grandfather Azzarelli's dentures when they flew out of his mouth while arguing with a neighbor. These stories would be told between fits of laughter from the siblings along with Dom himself, his parents shaking their heads at either end of the dining room table the family sat at in their home on Drinker Street.

If Dominick was still here, he wouldn't recount the last year of his life, and all the difficulties that came with it, with sadness. It would turn into a dark comedy because his goal was never to make you sad. He would want you to laugh. He would want you to be happy. He would want you to sit with your friends and family, have a drink or two, and tell stories. Tell them loudly, tell them with heart. Tell them like Dominick Azzarelli.

Dom was preceded in death by his father, Liberto Azzarelli and his brother, Joseph Azzarelli. He is survived by his mother, Geraldine Levesque Azzarelli; his wife Margo Crispino Azzarelli; his daughter, Marnie Azzarelli; his brother, James Azzarelli and his wife Carolyn Lalley Azzarelli; his sister Julienne Azzarelli Rushin and her husband George Rushin Sr.; and his many nieces and nephews who he loved like his own child.

On Friday, August 15th 2025, a public service will be held at Carlucci-Golden-DeSantis Funeral Home in Dunmore, Pennsylvania from 4-7pm with a blessing at 7pm. Afterwards, Dom will rest at home, on a bookshelf he built sitting next to his favorite Poe and Twain books, where he'll get to watch after his family, including his beloved dog, Agent Scully, also known as Cheech.

On a future date, a Celebration of Life memorial will be held at Actor's Circle in The Providence Playhouse in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where anyone who knew Dominick is welcomed to come onstage and tell their own stories about their buddy and share a laugh in his honor.