Expand<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cHis body just gave out after suffering multiple melanomas leading to pneumonia,\u201d said his younger brother Domenic Gagliardi.\u00a0 \u201cHe was such a special person.\u201d\u00a0 He said his brother died at the UCI Medical Center in Los Alamitos on Nov. 17 after returning from a vacation in Turkey.<\/p>\n
A\u00a0 funeral service, with a U.S. Army honor guard, will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 2\u00a0 at the Green Hills Chapel, 27501 S. Western Ave., in Rancho Palos Verdes.\u00a0 A Celebration of Life focusing on his achievements is being planned for sometime early next year.<\/p>\n
Accolades poured in when news of Gagliardi\u2019s death spread throughout the community that he loved.\u00a0 Everyone used words like smart, generous, kind, creative, enthusiastic, loving and modest in describing Gagliardi\u2019s impact on the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was extraordinary in so many ways in his dedication to helping people,\u201d said Jill Rosenberg, a longtime community leader.\u00a0 \u201cI had a friend who was diagnosed with cancer and needed a wig as her hair fell out. Tony, who made a successful business of his wig-making skills, provided a wig for free. My friend said he was incredibly kind and helpful in a way that relieved her anxieties and mental distress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul Garman, executive director\/producer of Musical Theatre West, said he was amazed at Gagliardi\u2019s extraordinary skills and willingness to do whatever it took to make an event a success.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was instrumental in founding our major fundraiser, \u2018Broadway in the Park,\u2019 which had its genesis in his home,\u201d Garman said. \u201cHe worked tirelessly for that event, helping set up tables, organizing decorations, opening his backyard for over 20 years to host previews for our upcoming shows. He was the hands-on worker, in every aspect, including sweeping the cul-de-sac and hosing it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, Garman said, Gagliardi\u2019s generosity to MTW didn\u2019t stop there. \u201cWhen he realized how much we were paying for wigs, he offered to volunteer to do those and donate his time, as well as the wigs,\u201d he said. \u201cHe touched so many of the art organizations in Long Beach, offering his home for fundraisers, his skills for decorating and wig design.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garman said one thing that always stood out about Gagliardi was that he never wanted to take credit for anything. \u201cIf we used his home for a fundraiser, he would hide rather than have me introduce and thank him,\u201d he said. \u201cHis humility was beyond generosity. He just wanted to help people and make a difference for that organization or person. And the thousands who he has helped are in his debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gagliardi also was a strong supporter of International City Theatre. ICT Artistic Director\u00a0 caryn desai said in a statement, \u201cIt is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of Anthony Gagliardi, a former board member and resident hair\/wig designer at ICT.\u00a0 Tony shared his talents with our artists for decades as a gift to ICT and this art form which he valued. He never chose to be paid for his service.\u00a0 He opened his house for board and donor events.\u201d<\/p>\n
ICT honored Gagliardi in 2021 at its Encore event to recognize his generosity and service not only to ICT but to the entire community in so many ways, desai said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time of Thanksgiving, we give thanks that he was such a positive presence in our lives for so many years,\u201d desai added.\u00a0 \u201cWe are deeply grateful to Tony for his service, his friendship and his humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gagliardi\u2019s role in founding Steel Magnolias, the volunteer organization that supports children with developmental issues is legendary.\u00a0 He co-founded the organization with Shirley Wild, longtime social columnist for the Press-Telegram. The main recipient of Steel Magnolias is the Stramski Developmental Center at Miller Children\u2019s and Women\u2019s Hospital. Since Steel Magnolias started in 1999, more than $6 million has been raised to help children.<\/p>\n
Wild told an interesting story on how Steel Magnolias got its name. \u201cI asked Tony if we could have a dinner at his house with women I had asked to help get the organization started,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cHe said, \u2018Of course.\u2019\u00a0 When I showed him the list of women attending, he said, \u2018Holy cats!\u00a0 These are the leaders of Long Beach.\u2019\u00a0 The next day he called me up and said the women on the list were all Steel Magnolias, like the strong women in the classic movie of the same name.\u00a0 The name stuck, and we called our organization Steel Magnolias.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wild said she loved Gagliardi\u2019s creative decorations and activities for fundraising events at his house.\u00a0 \u201cHe went overboard on everything,\u201d she said. \u201cOne time, he had a marching band play in front of his house.\u00a0 Another time for a Hollywood theme party, he had a replica of the famous Hollywood sign stretched all across his house.\u00a0 He was a master at creativity with a vivid imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gagliardi was born in Genoa, Italy, the ninth of 10 children \u2013 seven girls and three boys.\u00a0 Only three are alive now:\u00a0 Domenic and sisters Maria and Elena.\u00a0 The family eventually moved to the United States and Gagliardi grew up in Chicago. Sister Maria started a hair salon and Tony got his first taste of styling hair by helping her.<\/p>\n
Gagliardi was about 12 and so short he had to stand on buckets or other things to be able to reach the customer\u2019s hair. Nonetheless, Tony he never let his 5-foot, 4-inch stature get in the way of doing giant things.<\/p>\n
He joined the Army in 1967 when his family moved from Chicago and settled in Long Beach. His father worked at the Todd Shipyard in San Pedro.<\/p>\n
When he left the Army, he returned to his hairstyling business and learned how to style and make wigs.\u00a0 He became so expert he had his own Long Beach salon for many years.<\/p>\n
In 1993 he received a Key to the City from Mayor Ernie Kell and an award \u201con the occasion of the ribbon cutting and grand opening of the new Anthony\u2019s Studio 7 crowning 25 years of service to the citizens of Long Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n
A personal note: When the Press-Telegram needed a car in the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade for Shirley Wild and me to ride in and wave to the crowd, Gagliardi not only let us use his convertible, but he drove the car in the parade.\u00a0 In every way, he lived up to his moniker, Mr. Generosity.<\/p>\n
Survivors are his brother, Dominec Gagliardi and sisters, Maria Elenora Gagliardi and Elena Papini.<\/p>\n
The family suggests donations to Steel Magnolia, Musical Theatre West and International City Theatre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Gagliardi, known as Long Beach\u2019s Mr. Generosity for his extraordinary support of charitable organizations with his creative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,2702,179,23,131,133,132,137,100,10238,10374,741],"class_list":{"0":"post-65292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-charity","10":"tag-community","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-long-beach","13":"tag-long-beach-headlines","14":"tag-long-beach-news","15":"tag-los-angeles-county","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-obituaries","18":"tag-obituary","19":"tag-rich-archbold-columns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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