Officer, soldier, patriot, entrepreneur, father, and mentor to many – Col. Frank Fiore was the sixth of seven children born to Francis Anthony Fiore and Gelsomina (Milano) Fiore in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. He was christened Giuseppe Giulio Cesare Francesco. With loving guidance from his father, Frank graduated from Montclair High School and then attended Swavely Prepatory School in Manassas, VA for two years in preparation for the United States Military Academy at West Point. He entered West Point in 1931 and graduated as a second lieutenant in 1935. Two years later while stationed in El Paso, TX he met Marjorie Neil Rutherford, daughter of Ronald Campbell Rutherford and Anne Ormiston Neil Rutherford of British Columbia, Canada. It was literally love at first sight for Frank and Marjorie. A ten-day courtship lead to their marriage on Aug. 6, 1937 in El Paso. Frank served in the European theater during WWII, and later as a military attaché in Spain. He remained in the US Army for twenty years. Later he had active business interests in Latin America, especially in his area of expertise – telecommunications. Frank and Marjorie had two children: a boy and a girl – both alive in 2020, and both successfully married with grandchildren. Shortly before Frank and Marjorie were to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, Marjorie took ill with cancer and died in 1986. She had been the light in his life for so many years, always at his side and serving as a beacon for family, friends, and military associates. Frank later married Jane Schumacher Mock, a life-long family friend (and college roommate to Marjorie) who, herself, had been widowed a few years earlier from General Vernon P. Mock. (see FAG 40892945). Frank and Jane travelled extensively, enjoying and entertaining family at their new home in VA, until his death in the Fall of 1999. Frank was loved by all. He was a “father figure” at home and in his business relationships. He cultivated, he nurtured, he cajoled, he financed – just about any and every kind of interest a child or adult could have. He taught, he tutored, and he enjoyed seeing the light of recognition in the eyes of his student. He loved animals: dogs, turkeys, horses and any non-human with wings, feathers, or feet. His children and grandchildren felt totally safe and warm in the environment of their grand-parents and will long remember them and retell numerous stories of life growing up with Frank and Marjorie. His business colleagues, too, remember him in such a way and often tell stories of “the time that we were with Frank in Costa Rica, Panama, or wherever”. He is fondly remembered.

Military Information: COL, US ARMY