Louis Ricci, 77, died in his Lisle, Ill., home Monday, Feb. 18 of complications of cancer. He was educated at DePaul University and had been the band director at Kennedy High School in Chicago, as well as at Marshall and the old Parker high schools. Parker is now the site of Robeson High School.
His Catholic alma mater, now St Rita of Cascia High School on Chicago’s south side, brought him back on weekends and evenings, though, even during his 37-year employment in the Chicago Public Schools, from which he retired in 1995. After volunteering at St Rita during his time at DePaul, he became an assistant director and then director of St Rita’s Marching Mustangs.
“St Rita music is Lou Ricci,” wrote one alumnus on the school’s blog. “His music was heard, enjoyed, and loved. I have always been proud of the St. Rita bands. I’m sure heaven is now being entertained.”
Others at the school also remembered some of the important life lessons Louis gave them.
“He taught me much more than music,” the Chicago Tribune quoted Rev Thomas McCarthy, chairman of the St Rita board, as saying. Rev McCarthy joined the school band as a freshman. “He taught me perseverance, he taught me how to be involved—some wonderful life lessons.”
Cindy Gradek, the school’s current band director, praised the relationship Louis had with students: “He had a love and respect for his students and for music,” she told the Tribune, adding that students always called him “Lou” with respect and affection.
“He found a way to put life into the music and to pull emotion out of the players,” said Mike Madonia, the current band director at Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing and one of Louis’s former students. “He loved music, and he loved sharing that gift with students. He’s touched so many lives.”
