MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Raymond C. “Ray” Colucci, of Mamaroneck and Long Island, N.Y., died July 18 at the Nyack Manor Nursing Home in Rockland County, N.Y., after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 86.
Born June 24, 1926, to Amadeo and Ida Colucci of New York, he was married Aug. 7, 1949, to Barbara Sohier following his service in the Armed Forces. She preceded him in death in November 2004.
Colucci will be remembered as a professional who helped pioneer dry cleaning. He and his brothers along with their father once owned the largest dry cleaning store in the Bronx, Colucci and Sons Dry Cleaners.
After his graduation from the Fashion Institute of Technology, he launched a sales and marketing career, finally acceding to vice president of marketing at Rheem Textile, the company from which he retired in the 1990s.
He continued as a writer and consultant to the fabricare industry, and was a frequent contributor to a dry cleaning trade magazine.
He was a frequent traveler, making multiple trips to the Baltic States, Russia and Europe (especially Bologna, Italy), from where he imported new dry cleaning technology to meet modern environmental standards.
Besides his wife, a sister and three brothers preceded him in death.
Surviving Colucci are a son, Robert; a daughter, Laura; and two stepdaughters, Christine and Debra.
Funeral Mass was said July 21 at the Monastery Church of the Sacred Heart in Yonkers, N.Y. Whalen & Ball Funeral Home handled the arrangements.
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