He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Mary Beth Eberly and his beloved family including daughters, Barbara Jean DeSalles, Janet Arnheiter (Ed) and sons, Jim (Beth) Guiliano, John (Carrie) Guiliano, twelve grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Fran was born in Boston to Connie and James Guiliano on 1 February 1932. He grew up a “city kid” in extremely modest surroundings in East Cambridge and Watertown where he played basketball at the Boys Club, sold papers on street corners and set pins at bowling alleys.
Fran graduated early from Rindge Technical School in Cambridge where he captained the basketball team. He joined the Navy in 1951 and fought in the Korean War. In 1955, he attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. At UMass, he played varsity basketball, was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity and met his wife, Mary Beth Eberly of Needham, Mass. He later earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.
Fran was a very successful entrepreneur and businessman who became a senior executive at International Paper Company, CEO of Ampad Corporation in Holyoke, Mass and founded Rite-Now Container Company which he successfully ran for 30 years. In retirement, he built a farm with Mary Beth in Brewster (now the Chatham Bars Inn farm) and sold fruit & vegetables from a stand along Rt 6A. He was a loving and very generous Father, Grandfather and Great Grandfather and involved himself in his family’s education and lives with positive effect. He was a sports enthusiast who loved the Boston Red Sox, hockey and all other sports his children and grandchildren played. He loved to travel and often took the entire extended family on vacation trips.
A viewing will be held at Nickerson funeral Home in Orleans, Mass from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 28, 2022 The Funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, August 29, 2022 at Saint Joan of Arc Church in Orleans. He will be buried at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, Mass.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the UMass Business School or UMass Hockey program in Fran’s honor.
For online condolences, please visit www.nickersonfunerals.com
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