Joseph Vincent Zalasky

Joseph Vincent (Vince) Zalasky passed away on September 26, 2025 at his home at Greenhaven Place in Sacramento. A Celebration of Life will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 22, 2025 at Harry A. Nauman & Son Memorial Chapel at 4041 Freeport Blvd, in Sacramento.

Vince was born July 19, 1941 to Joe and Minnie Zalasky in Kenvil, New Jersey. He was the oldest of five siblings and was a gifted athlete. He moved west in 1959 to play football at Coalinga College (now West Hills College), located in a tiny oil town in the central valley of California. It was there he met Carol Ann James. The two married in 1962 and moved to Sacramento, where Vince played football at Sac State. Vince was inducted into the West Hills College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.

After moving to New Jersey for a short time, Vince and Carol eventually settled back in Sacramento to raise their children. David was born in 1963, Daniel was born and passed as an infant in 1964, Vikki was born in 1965, Patrick was born in 1970, and Andrew was born in 1973.

Vince worked at Moore Bros. for more than three decades where he developed many lifelong relationships with co-workers and customers. Those relationships encouraged him to form his wildly popular Six-Pac Slo Pitch softball league that ran for more than a decade and provided unrivalled entertainment to hundreds of Vince’s co-workers, friends and colleagues on Sunday afternoons (excluding Mother’s Day). After his first attempt at retirement failed—it is suspected he drove his wife of more than six decades crazy with so much free time—he returned to work for one of his former colleagues at Moore Bros., Joe Knieriem. For Vince it proved to be more than a job, it was an opportunity to continue offering up an honest day’s work surrounded by his friends.

In addition to being a hard worker, he was dedicated to his family, loved to travel, and regularly coached youth sports, particularly baseball. When not on the road or coaching, he relished his Saturday mornings cleaning the house, a cold beer about any time of the day, and a series of personality-filled cats. Among his memorable trips were long drives to visit family in the Midwest and on the East Coast, family vacations to Santa Cruz, weekends away at his and Carol’s second home in the Los Gatos Canyon, and trips to watch his grandsons’ activities at locations across the West.

Vince was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Carol; his son, Daniel; his parents, Joe and Minnie; and his sister, Theresa Johnson. He is survived by his four children, David (Julie), Vikki Warner (Matthew), Patrick (Traci) and Andrew (Emily); his sister, Angela Stevens; his brothers Thomas (Barb) and Richard (Eileen); and his eight grandsons, Joseph, Andrew, Alexander, Jesse, Brady, William, Jackson and Tate.