Zagrobelny remembered

February 8, 2007

Co-owner of the Olde World Restaurant John Zagrobelny lost his battle with colon cancer Tuesday. He earned numerous awards in the city and state for his work with MDA and other organizations.

NORTH PORT -- Knowing his best friend was dying, Father Pat Organ marched into John Zagrobelny's room and announced, "Your younger and better-looking brother is here to see you." John smiled.

Zagrobelny, 64, lost his battle with colon cancer Tuesday."The last word he ever said to me was 'goodbye,'" Father Pat recalled Wednesday of his 21-year friendship with Zagrobelny. "John was my best friend in the United States. So often he would say he wasn't going if I wasn't going.

"I would joke with him, saying that God doesn't want you above and the devil doesn't want you below, so we are stuck together. John agreed and joked back saying he couldn't go and leave me loose in North Port."

Father Pat, who said Wednesday was an emotional day, has been working on the message he will deliver at Zagrobelny's funeral 11:30 a.m. Saturday at San Pedro Church. He will also be at the viewing from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Farley Funeral Home in North Port.

"It's going to be hard," he said. "John was positive all of the time, yet he was a realist. He didn't complain, but he went through so much."

Father Pat said he never missed their Tuesday night gatherings at the Olde World Restaurant. This was a time for the two to roast each other, have a couple of drinks and set aside Zagrobelny's endless business and volunteer schedule.

"There's so much to say about John's legacy," he said. "He is the most altruistic individual in the world."

Holding back tears, Bud Korte said he also grew to love Zagrobelny as a very close friend in the past 21 years. The two shared the same Oct. 21 birthday, which was also John and his wife, Christine's, anniversary.

"He and I had the pleasure of being knighted at the same time," said Korte of John becoming a Fifth Degree Knight in the Knights of Columbus in North Port.

Korte and his wife, Wanda, traveled with the Zagrobelnys many times during fundraising cruises for Muscular Dystrophy Association. Zagrobelny founded the MDA committee in North Port and chaired it for nearly two decades.

Although Zagrobelny was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in the 1980s, being confined to the wheelchair never stopped him from being mobile.

"Something that scared me at the time, but was later very funny was how myself, Joe (John's brother-in-law) and Bob Price lifted John up in his wheelchair and carried him down a very narrow staircase on the cruise ship. John was white as a ghost," Korte said. "We didn't laugh until we let out a sigh that John was all right. The ship wasn't ADA accessible, but that didn't stop John from going and having fun."

However, even more funny was the time Zagrobelny adjusted two grapefruit-sized balloons in his bosom, wore a veil and red-hot lipstick, all for the attention of the ladies.

"For three years, we had men's drag fashion shows as MDA fundraisers," Christine said. "People had so much fun. John dressed as a bride. He collected a lot of money. They were a great way to raise money for MDA. We always packed the hall."

Everything from annual lock-ups, dances, cruises, 5K runs, auctions, breakfast with Santa and three-day telethons were led in North Port by Zagrobelny and his team of volunteers. He even met Jerry Lewis in person to give him a check from the North Port telethon.

After meeting the zany Lewis, Zagrobelny stayed true to his word to raise $1 million for muscular dystrophy. His dream came true in 2005, after the huge telethon was canceled in 2004 due to Hurricane Charley. Even then Zagrobelny's spirits weren't dampened. His crew of volunteers worked closely to ensure the 2005 leader board would have seven figures by the end of the Labor Day festivities at the Olde World Restaurant.

"It was like heaven when it happened," Korte said. "He was so proud that the city of North Port could be put on the map like that, especially one year after the hurricane."

Ongoing accomplishments

After 39 years of marriage, Christine said she still had to encourage John to go to bed after reading until 3 or 4 a.m.

"He loved to read books on his Palm Pilot," she said. "What's amazing about us is in all the years we were married, we never fought. When we worked together in the pharmacy before we moved here, people didn't know we were married. They thought married couples fought and we didn't."

Christine, who also co-owned the restaurant with John, her brother Joe Skoczylas and his wife Teresa, said she always believed in John's causes.

"I wanted what he wanted," she said. "He made sure things got done in North Port."

John was honored by the city, chamber of commerce and community for his work. He was also awarded Florida's Small Business Person of the Year. In 1995, he was named as the community's Small Business Person of the Year. He was the 1994 Citizen of the Year in North Port, and in 1995 the access road near the restaurant was renamed by the city "Zagrobelny Way" in his honor.

He sponsored North Port Area Little League for 17 years, was a member of the Friends of the North Port Area Library, solidified and finalized the denotation of land by the Atlantic Gulf Community to the North Port Area Chamber of Commerce for their own building, was re-elected Chair of North Port's Tamiami Appearance Review Board, founded B.L.O.A.T.T. Business & Landowners Association Review Board, was elected to Who's Who Worldwide Registry of Global Business Leaders, and was president of the North Port Area Chamber of Commerce in 1991.

In an earlier interview with the Sun, Zagrobelny said something a famous president once said: "You have nothing to fear, but fear itself."

"John was never afraid to get things done," Christine said. "He will be missed by so many."

You can e-mail Elaine Allen-Emrich at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH
North Port Editor  
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