Obituary of Angela Marie Kurlich

FRANKLIN TWP. - Angela Marie (nee Rocco) Kurlich, 55, died August 8, 2020. Born in Akron, she was a lifetime area resident and longtime member of St. Patrick Catholic Church, where she had served as cantor and director of the children’s choir and their Christmas Mass program. In her younger years, Angela formed a love of acting, entertaining, and making people happy, with her singing and dancing on the stage in the Country and Western Show at Geauga Lake Park, and performing as Gypsy Rose Lee, as a child, at the Goodyear Theater. Later, as an adult, she starred as the adult Gypsy Rose Lee at The Palace Theater in Canton. Her love for the performing arts led to years of involvement and many roles on stage with Weathervane Playhouse and the Stow Players, where she met her future husband, John. As a teenager, Angela began working alongside her father Frederick “Rick” Rocco in the family business, Angle Insurance Solutions, and assumed leadership and oversaw the growth of the agency upon his retirement. Angela and John’s daughter, Kate, came into the business as third generation of the family. After years of service, Angela became the president of Professional Insurance Agent Association of Ohio (PIA). Angela was also very active in support of her communities as a member of both the Stow-Munroe Falls and the Cuyahoga Falls Chambers of Commerce, the Stow Library Board, and the North Akron Board of Trade, as well as a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program at Cuyahoga Community College. While her absence causes pain and sadness, we can take joy in the fact that she now stands with her father, singing with the rest of God’s angels in his choir. Preceded in death by her father, Rick in July of this year, she is survived by her husband of 30 years, John; daughter Katherine Kurlich; mother; Joanna Rocco, brother, John (Darlene) Rocco; uncle Bob (Cheryl) Rocco; many cousins, nieces and nephews, and godmother, Sue Mazzagatti. Private services for the immediate family will be held with interment to follow. A celebration of her life will be held at a later date. Should friends desire, memorials may be made to either St. Patrick Catholic Church, 313 N. DePeyster Street, Kent, OH 44240, or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, stjude.org/donate