Obituary of Anthony Peter Coppolino

Anthony Peter Coppolino, 72, of Santa Cruz, CA, passed away on September 1, 2019 at his home.

 

He was born in Staten Island, NY, on February 19,1947, son of Rosaria LaPira and the late John Coppolino. He is survived by his spouse, Lorraine Helene, and his three children, Marcel, Liliane, and Clarice Coppolino. He is also survived by his younger brother, Steven Coppolino.

 

Anthony completed his undergraduate degree, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, at Pratt Institute in 1967 and earned his Ph.D. at the University of California - Santa Cruz in 1972.

 

After working two decades in Computer Systems in Manhattan, NY and living as a resident of Ridgewood, NJ, he returned to Santa Cruz with his family to the Live Oak area. There, he developed a green thumb and maintained a home garden of various fruit trees, tomatoes, herbs, cruciferous vegetables, corn, and striking botanicals such as Pincushion High Gold, Protea Neriifolia, Red Trumpet Vine, Fuchsia, and Bird of Paradise. He loved studying the plant life cycles, practicing the technique of fruit tree grafting, and was an active seed collector.

 

He had a highly intelligent, resourceful, and inventive mind and enjoyed creating practical tools for greater efficiency, especially in the garden. He spent his days exploring abstract concepts, theorizing, experimenting, playing with ideas in economics as natural science, and engaging in philosophical discussions.

 

Anthony lived just steps from the Pacific Ocean, where he would frequent its beach to watch the Snowy Egrets and track the angles of the setting sun.

 

He was a fan of Art Nouveau painters and illustrators, such as Alphonse Mucha, and a music enthusiast that was at the epicenter of the 60s counterculture scene and even attended many of the iconic music performances at the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967, including Jimi Hendrix torching his guitar on stage.

 

He enjoyed watching classic movies and was a longtime fan of the Cannes Film Festival. He enjoyed making Italian dishes and sauces from the vegetable and herbs in his garden, including pasta e fagioli and pesto. In his final years, he became a vegetarian, practiced meditation, and studied plant medicine

 

Anthony was active member of the Rare Fruit Tree Growers Association - California Chapter.

 

 

Quotes:

Instead of "Cogito, ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am), it’s “Attento, ergo sum" (I try, therefore I am).  Meditation on the spaces between the elements of any process, can make work a dance.

 

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