close

Italian-American society to present award

4 min read
1 / 2

Jack A. Barcelona Jr.

2 / 2

Retired Maj. Gen. Peter Talleri

Jack A. Barcelona Jr. will be honored posthumously with the Distinguished Citizen Award at the Italian-American Cultural and Heritage Society of Washington County’s banquet May 21 at the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe.

Each year, the society honors outstanding individuals of Italian-American heritage who have not only excelled professionally, but also have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to help others through volunteer efforts and community service.

In addition, retired U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Peter Talleri will serve as guest speaker.

Barcelona was born May 9, 1937, in Charleroi, son of Jack Albert and Ethel Kathryn (Keracik) Barcelona.

He graduated from Charleroi High School in 1955, and attended night school at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor of science in business administration, while working full time at Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.

Barcelona spent two years as a chaplain’s assistant in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Knox, Ky., and he worked at Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel in the corporate offices in Monessen and Wheeling for nearly 35 years. He retired in 1992 and began working for his brother, Richard, at Bailey Engineers, retiring for a second time in 2015.

Barcelona also turned his love of travel into a business when he opened Travel Planners International Inc. in Canonsburg, which allowed him to travel the world.

He was very passionate about being involved in the community and bringing people together. He was an active member of numerous organizations, including:

• Charleroi Elks for nearly 50 years, and was former exalted ruler and secretary for over 25 years;

• Canonsburg/Houston Rotary, where he was a Paul Harris fellow;

• Charleroi’s 10th Street Athletic Club;

• Knights of Columbus;

• Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Mary Mother of the Church;

• Italian-American Cultural and Heritage Society of Washington County, where he helped organize and plan events, including the scholarship dinners and golf outing.

Family was the most important thing to Barcelona, especially his wife, Carol, of nearly 50 years. They had three children, Kathy, David and Nick, and nine grandchildren.

For decades, one of the most anticipated days of the year in the Barcelona family has been “Sausage Day,” the day after Thanksgiving. Barcelona would lead his family in making over 200 pounds of sausage to give away to family and friends.

Barcelona died March 21, 2017.

Talleri served for more than 30 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. At retirement, he was the U.S. Marine Corps senior logistics professional in the Pacific and a recipient of the prestigious National Safety Council’s “CEOs Who Get It” award.

Talleri has commanded at all levels and has been assigned to senior staff positions at U. S. Central Command and the Marine Corps Forces Central Command. While at CENTCOM, he was responsible for the information technology logistical planning efforts during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. This included providing the strategic and operational plans to ensure that total asset visibility was accomplished during the war. Operation Iraqi Freedom was the first time “Active RFID” was used on a strategic scale.

Since retiring from the Marine Corps, Talleri has served in several private sector positions. He is vice president of Federal Services at both World IT Solutions LLC and Tec-Masters Inc.; president at Peter J. Talleri & Associates LLC; and a strategic adviser with Stellar Solutions, AT&T and BlackBerry.

Talleri was born in Butler and was raised a military “brat” of the U.S. Air Force. In 1979, he graduated from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and later earned master of science degrees from the Florida Institute of Technology and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

Talleri is married to the former Deborah (Debi) Lipko of Mt. Pleasant, and they have three children, Adam, Danielle and Anna, and four grandchildren.

Those wishing to attend the banquet are asked to call Dennis Urso 724-992-3295.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today