Anthony “Tony” Falzone, a property developer and philanthropist known for his generosity toward diabetes research, died Sunday at the Ebeid Hospice Residence at ProMedica Flower Hospital in Sylvania. He was 84.
He had recently been in and out of the doctor’s office with various health problems, daughter Sue Jablonski said. The family does not know the exact cause of death, but they suspect kidney and liver failure, she said.
A lifelong resident of the Toledo area, Mr. Falzone made a name for himself in real estate development by owning mobile home parks, condominiums, and restaurants. He most recently was working as general partner of Reynolds Senior Village, a mobile home park for the elderly.
“He was a genius,” said Jerry Phillips, a Toledo lawyer and friend of Mr. Falzone. “He just wanted a project all the time.”
Mr. Falzone’s adventurous business spirit led him to invest in multiple restaurants, including Smartee’s Restaurant, a pizza parlor and arcade. He also took sizable roles outside of real estate, working as a co-chairman of the Mud Hens season ticket drive in 1983.
Mr. Falzone’s greatest point of pride was the Mary Ellen Falzone Diabetes Center, a $15.6 million facility on ProMedica’s North Campus for which he donated $1 million as the lead grant.
Named after his daughter “Meme,” who died when she was 14 of complications from undiagnosed diabetes, the center opened in 2014 and treats about 150 patients a day.
“He took something that could have been a very devastating, negative experience, and he turned it into something where he wanted to do something very positive for the world,” said John Brunner, a doctor at the Mary Ellen Falzone Diabetes Center. “He didn’t hide bitterness. He went out and wanted to help people more.”
Born Feb. 13, 1933, to Louis, a factory worker, and Catherine, a homemaker, Mr. Falzone was a troublemaker as a child.
He attended Central Catholic High School and later took several classes at the University of Toledo, but he never completed his college degree. Instead, after briefly working as a mailman, Mr. Falzone received his real estate license and began selling homes. In 1964, at the age of 31, he formed his own company, Falzone Realty.
“He was a self-educated, self-made man,” Ms. Jablonski said of her father, adding “you knew he liked you if he gave you a hard time and teased you.”
Beneath Mr. Falzone’s jokester exterior lay a lifelong commitment to helping others, often anonymously.
Ms. Jablonski recalled that when she attended McAuley High School, the mother of three of her classmates died and the widowed father could no longer afford to pay their tuition. When Mr. Falzone heard the sisters were going to have to leave McAuley, he stepped in and funded the girls’ educations until all three graduated.
Mr. Phillips said Mr. Falzone’s spirit was best captured by his everyday, over-the-top acts of generosity.
In one instance, Mr. Falzone was eating dinner with a friend undergoing cancer treatment, Mr. Phillips said. When his sick companion admitted he did not have an appetite, Mr. Falzone slipped a $100 bill to the bus boy and instructed him to drive directly to Handel’s Ice Cream in Sylvania, which he knew sold his friend’s favorite flavor of ice cream.
The boy returned to the upscale restaurant with as many tubs of ice cream as $100 could buy as Mr. Falzone requested.
“He had the biggest heart of any of them,” Mr. Phillips said. “If he was your friend, he was your friend for life.”
Surviving are his wife, Mary Lou; daughters, Patty Narges and Sue Jablonski; brother, Vincent; two grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
There are no calling hours. A memorial service will be at 12:30 p.m. July 30 in Historic Saint Patrick’s Church. Arrangements are by Ansberg-West Funeral Directors.
The family requests tributes to the Mary Ellen Falzone Diabetes Center.
Contact Antonia Ayres-Brown at abrown@theblade.com or 419-724-6368.
First Published July 18, 2017, 4:30 a.m.