Friends and family of Paul Fiacco are mourning the death and celebrating the life of the 67-year-old Derby resident and Purifan inventor, who died this week in a drowning accident while attending a family reunion in upstate New York.

Fiacco was born on April 14, 1941 in Johnson City, N.Y. to Paul and Julia Fiacco. He graduated from Binghamtom North High School in 1959 and received his bachelor of science degree at SUNY Binghamton in 1973 and his master’s from Wichita State University.

He married Virginia Craig, “Ginny,” on Aug. 22, 1970. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, Regina Fiacco and Serena Fiacco, both of Omak, Wash., his mother, Julia Fiacco of Binghamton; sister, Carolee More of Las Vegas; and brother, Vince Fiacco of Endicott, N.Y.

A celebration of his life was held Friday evening at Damm’s Carriage House in Derby.
According to Fiacco’s lifelong friend, Derby resident Gary Damm, Fiacco was an eccentric genius with boundless curiosity.

Fiacco, who was a geophysicist in the oil industry, invented the Purifan air-filtering system. The system was initially created to remove second-hand smoke in bars and restaurants. The system is now used to improve air quality in homes, offices, day care operations, schools and other areas, according to the Wichita-based company's Web site. He was also active in gas and oil exploration.

According to the Web site, Fiacco designed the Purifan system because he wanted to smoke in his home while recuperating after a serious car accident. He had purchased several air cleaners to see whether he could control the smoke and odors but decided none of them had inadequate air volume, were too noisy and very ineffective.

“He was a scientist, teacher, engineer, raconteur, writer and humanitarian,” Damm, who had been friends with Fiacco for over 30 years said. “He became an instant friend to everyone he ever met.”

Damm, owner of Damm Pharmacy in Derby, is just one of many who counted Fiacco as a friend.
“He loved small children,” Damm said. “He was always fascinated by their natural curiosity and always enjoyed exploring and learning with them.”

Fiacco, a member of Woodlawn United Methodist Church, could sometimes be found stopped at a park bench having a “truly fascinating and lengthy conversation with a homeless person then head to the office for meetings with lawyers, accountants and engineers and there would be no difference in the respect and sense of companionship that he displayed to the man on the street,” Damm said.

Jehovah’s witnesses, Latter Day Saints students, and door-to-door salesmen were always welcomed at Fiacco’s house for lively conversation, sometimes even dinner, and “he may have even made a conversion or two,” Damm said. “Phone solicitors have actually apologized to Paul for having to hang up because they had exceeded their allowable sales time and then call back when they got home just to talk to him about what they were doing or how their family is doing and to stop by and see him if they ever pass through.”

Derby residents Gary and Colene Read have lived next door to Paul and Ginny Fiacco since 1979, enjoying Paul’s “good Italian cooking.”

When describing Paul, the Read’s came up with a dozen adjectives right away, including ‘one-of-a-kind,’ fun, witty, extremely intelligent, caring, generous, a friend to everyone, and a genuine free spirit.

“He enjoyed people and life and always had a funny story to tell,” Colene Read said. “And he will be missed.”

Fiacco’s friends say that he had dozens of hilariously funny stories.

“Sometimes the stories were death-defying, and amazingly, mostly, true,” Damm said.

Apparently, Fiacco’s friends have long encouraged him to write these stories down and make them into a book.

“Friends are largely in favor of the title ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time,’ since this is the way many of his stories begin and end,” Damm said.

Fiacco was known to be a cunning and sometimes devious poker player and the games were often delayed when he would start to tell one of his epic adventures.

“Paul was always generous with his time and money,” Damm said. “Most of his friends believe he was overly generous in many cases, but he always insisted on helping and not judging other people. He often told his friends that ‘So long as I have a cookie, you have half,’ and that a wiseman once said that ‘It is impossible to err on the side of generosity.’

“Fortunately for Paul’s many friends, his spirit, character and nature lives on with his amazing wife, Ginny, and two of the best story-telling daughters that you will ever meet.”

Friends and family say Fiacco had a terrible sense of direction, so that he spent a lot of time not knowing exactly where he was.

“But more often than not where he ended up with the most fun and interesting place to be. So, we are all pretty sure that he has taken a wrong turn or two on this part of his journey, but it is likely that he has found friends and a poker table to tell stories between the betting and raising.

“And he has that glint in his eye doing his best to make sure everyone else thinks he’s not bluffing,” Damm said. “Oh, and Paul, could I hear the one about the space-alien abduction again?”