Angela Ann Licari

On June 13, 2026, Angela Ann Licari took off on her final adventure at the age of 82.

Born on August 25, 1943, to Fred and Brady (Fusco) Trimboli, Angela grew up in Herkimer, New York, where she graduated from Herkimer High School in 1961. A cheerleader for the Herkimer Magicians, she met the love of her life, Jerome Licari, when he was snapping footballs for the rival Frankfort Maroon Knights.

In June 1964, she married her high school sweetheart and sixty-two years later, Jerome was still trying to figure out how he got so lucky. Together they built a life filled with family, friends, laughter, and enough Italian food to feed a small nation.

After high school, Angela attended Central City Business Institute in Syracuse, New York, and continued taking college and professional courses throughout her life because she never stopped learning.

Over the years, Angela wore many hats. She worked as an administrative assistant in Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, sold real estate in New York and Minnesota, managed a Godiva chocolate shop (a job many of us envied), worked as a legal secretary, and finished her career as a manager with Corporate Transfer Services before retiring to Florida with Jerome.

But job titles never really captured who Angela was.

She could strike up a conversation with anyone and made fast and life-long friends. She opened her home, her kitchen, and her heart to family, friends, neighbors, and the friends of her children, many of whom considered her their Italian mother. Nobody ever left her house hungry, and the aroma of Sunday sauce simmering on the stove will stay with us (and on every piece of white clothing she owned) for a lifetime.

She was fun-loving, feisty, fiercely loyal, and never afraid to say exactly what she thought. She loved to sing, loved to laugh, and just as importantly, she was never afraid to laugh at herself. With Jerome, she enjoyed bowling leagues, bridge nights, casino trips, annual family trips to Disney and, in retirement, many cruises throughout the Caribbean, as well as visits to Italy to spend time with their daughter and her family.

Most of all, Angela loved her family. Her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends knew they were loved because she made sure they knew it—often loudly, always sincerely.

Angela is survived by Jerome; their children, Jonnel Licari (Francesco Antonini) and John Licari; and the grandchildren who brought her endless pride and joy: Frederick Licari (partner Kristina Dao), Isabella Licari, Niccolò Antonini (partner Isabelly Costa), and Gabriel Antonini.

She cherished her large extended Fusco family and leaves dozens of them behind along with her sister-in-law Vivian Kapusta and husband John, Frederick and Isabella’s mother Sally, many members of the Licari and Nardelli families, and countless dear friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her parents-in-law, John and Palma Licari. We are certain that they, along with the rest of the family that went before her, are whipping up a huge celebratory meal in heaven.

A woman of faith and service, Angela taught Sunday School at Saint Anthony's Church in Herkimer and later volunteered in the Wayzata, Minnesota, schools, where children delighted in hearing her read “Strega Nona.” The story of a magical pasta pot seems especially appropriate for someone who always found a way to feed everyone around her.

We will miss her laughter, her voice, her advice (whether we asked for it or not), and the way she could make any gathering feel like home. The world is a little less bright without her in it, but we take comfort knowing that she left pieces of herself in all of us.

And if there's a blackjack table in heaven, there's a pretty good chance she's already doubled down.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Angela’s memory may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or Shriners Children’s Hospital.