Profiles

It’s 8:30 on a Thursday morning, and the ageless tables are already filled with regulars. Walking into this Oak Park diner, you see a distinguished man with papers spread out around him. He’s talking to a man standing over the table as if the guest were paying homage. A handshake accompanies a warm smile while the next person waits to say hello. That person would be this journalist. “Hi, Gabe,” I say with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, Lis,” Gabe Caporale says. “How’s ma?” Gabriel James Caporale’s grandparents emigrated from Italy in the 1900s. His parents, …

“I was putting siding on a house and I took a piece of plywood and put my phone number on it, and that was that!” So says Bill Conforti of 773-929-9275, the telephone number that has connected homeowners with Siding-1 Windows-1 Exteriors for more than a quarter of a century. Conforti launched the company and still maintains a small roll in it. But he’s now concentrating most of his energies on Cobblestone Development Inc., a commercial and residential remodeling company he formed 20 years ago. Conforti has covered a lot of ground in the intervening years, but it was those …

Patience, determination and heart are all qualities that one must possess while pursuing a career in musical theater. Nick Cosgrove — a Park Ridge native and current star of the “Jersey Boys” national tour — has all those qualities and countless more. “I do theater because it inspires people!” he enthuses. Cosgrove’s love of singing began while he was learning to walk. “I was an introverted toddler so music opened me up,” he confesses. His mother bought him Disney sing-a-long tapes, which got the ball rolling. The next step was singing lessons, and from the third grade on, he was …

The Our Lady of Angels fire in 1958 had a devastating impact on the community in which it took place. When Mike was a young boy, he watched his school go up in flames, and afterward, his parents told him never to think about it again. And he never did, that is, until he was training to be firefighter, after four years of volunteering. He was in a drill at the academy that focused on the proper use of ladders. The slides displayed during the demonstration were photos of the ladders used in the Our Lady of Angels fire. It …

It isn’t uncommon for young boys to play cops and robbers as children, and Ralph DeBartolo was one of those boys. “I loved playing as a kid, and I always wanted to be the cop,” he says. After serving 18 months in Korea, and two years total in the U.S. Army, DeBartolo returned home to Chicago and started to work construction. That changed when his buddy told him he had found an article in the paper announcing openings for 500 police officers. He remembered his days playing cops and robbers, and thought, “Why not?” After taking the exam, he was …

When Sam Pitassi was attending Proviso East High School in Maywood, it was a place of racial unrest and discord. The situation got so bad at one point that school administrators asked police officers from Melrose Park and other west suburban towns to come and patrol the halls. “I admired their commitment and resolve in coming in and accomplishing the task of keeping us safe,” Pitassi recalls. “Plus, my uncle and godfather (Nick Perrino) was a police officer in Chicago in the 1960s, and he inspired me to pursue law enforcement as a career.” The son of Peter and Christine …

Steve Iovinelli was working with his father at a heating and air conditioning company when he saw a help wanted ad in the paper for firefighters in Franklin Park. Intrigued, he went down to the station to ask a few questions, and the answers sparked his interest. He took the test and, at 24 years old, he joined the department, moving up the ranks to fire chief two years ago. Though he went directly from heating and air conditioning to firefighting, Iovinelli stresses that firefighting requires constant education. “If you become a fire fighter and you think your days of …

When Joseph Casale was young, he had two very important role models. One was his grandfather, a Melrose Park police officer in the 1920s. The other was his Boy Scout leader, who was a firefighter. “I remember the scout leader came in and showed us all the knots and tools. I thought it was all so cool and interesting. He was a great guy, and I admired him like I did my grandfather.” Casale decided to pursue the firefighter route. After high school, he went to Triton College and graduated in 1976 with his associates’ degree in fire science. In …

Growing up, Rick Beltrame didn’t have to look very far to know what direction to head in life. Both his father and his brother were police officers, so he knew he wanted to do something with public service. He took both police and fire tests, and when the call came from the Melrose Park Fire Department, he answered and never looked back. On June 1, 1981, he became a firefighter for the town he has lived in all his life. And less than 25 years later, on May 1, 2005, he rose to the position of chief, which he looks …

Rich Belmonte was not one of those boys who dreamed of becoming a firefighter. But at the age of 32, he was curious if he could perform the firefighter physical agility test with the younger participants. He had already spent time in the Army, having served in Korea years prior, so his strength and agility was comparable to the younger applicants he was surrounded by. Once he passed the test, he decided to accept the position of firefighter for the Village of Westchester. Although he didn’t know it at the time, joining the Army gave him structure and experience he …