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Vail Daily obituary: Joseph ‘Jojac’ Jacaruso, 1924-2014

Joseph “Jojac” Jacaruso, 90, of Edwards, passed away peacefully from heart complications on July 31, 2014.

Predeceased by his parents, Dr. Joseph and Eileen Jacaruso, of Maspeth, N.Y., and sister Theodora Bullock, of Las Vegas.

He is survived by his wife, Sandra Clay Jacaruso, of Edwards; two sons, Thomas J. Jacaruso, of Denver, and Joseph R. Jacaruso, of Austin, Texas, three granddaughters, Kathryn and Rives Jacaruso, of Denver, and Lilly Anna Jacaruso, of Austin, and by his sister, Jean Short, of Maspeth, N.Y., and nephew Peter Johnson, Socharie, N.Y.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Joseph served honorably in World War II as a Mustang P51 pilot of the Army Air Force serving in the European Theatre. He went on to graduate from Syracuse University and joined United Air Lines in March of 1953. He retired as a DC-10 captain from United Airlines in 1990.

He came to make his home in Vail in 1969 through his love of skiing. He started his ski instructor career at Arapahoe Basin. Between his flying career he worked on Vail Mountain as a ski instructor at Golden Peak from 1969 and worked for Vail Associates for over 40 years.

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Not only known as an “icon” at United Air Lines as well as on Vail Mountain, we will always have loving and living memories of “Captain JoJac” for his bright smile and fun-loving “larger than life” personality. He will be dearly missed by all that knew him.

A celebration of life memorial will be held in early December when all his friends are back in town for the upcoming ski season. In lieu of flowers, we ask that any donations in memory of JoJac be made to the Wounded Warriors Project.


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