John P. Schiappa

John “Jack” P. Schiappa, age 79, died on March 28, 2017 at his home in Bowie, Maryland.   Jack is survived by his beloved wife of almost 61 years, JoAnn Schiappa;   daughter Mary Schiappa of Bowie, MD and her sons Eddie and Jason;   daughter Susan Ballerino of Deltona, FL and her husband Bob, their daughter Chelsey, and her son Chase Kaiser; their son Michael and wife Jessica, and their son Hudson Wyatt;   son David Schiappa of Davidsonville, MD and his wife Cheryl, their son Mason and daughter Alysse (Aly);   Jack was born in Scranton, PA and was the second oldest child of the ten children of Frank and Isabelle Schiappa.  Jack began his career as a loan officer at Muncy Trust of Washington D.C..  After several years in the banking business, Jack spent his remaining working years in the food business, culminating with starting his own Specialty Food brokerage business for the mid-Atlantic region.  He sold his company in 1999 and retired to his home in Bowie, MD.  Jack’s greatest joy in life was spending time with his family, especially during their visits to their Delaware beach house.  Jack and his wife JoAnn spent a significant portion of their retirement time remaining able and ready to assist their three children with the rearing of the grandchildren.  Their home in Bowie remained a steady base of operations for Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthday parties, or just general kitchen table conversations.  Jack or “Pop-Pop”, as he was known to all of the grandchildren, would use his kitchen table to tell entertaining stories, play strategic chess matches, conduct contested Scrabble games, eat copius amounts of meats and cheeses (his favorite), while always ensuring everyone had a lot of laughs along the way.  Jack loved his family room television time with JoAnn as they hunkered in to watch their beloved Redskins (don’t call during games), Wheel of Fortune, and multiple cable news shows where he would provide his own steady narrative about what was wrong with the world.  Jack’s other favorite pastime was to study the stock market from his office at home……between naps on his couch.  Jack the husband/dad/ Pop-Pop will be forever remembered as a man larger than life; filling up every room with laughter, a consistent and constant source of entertainment, a dad ready to provide support of any and all kind to his children, and as a person of unbound generosity to everyone in his life.  Jack/dad/Pop-Pop will carry with him a legacy of a lifetime of loving support for his family and will be missed and loved by everyone who spent even a snapshot in time with him.  The family will have a private service at a later date after JoAnn recuperates.  Should friends or family desire, contributions may be sent to the American Diabetes Association.