TRIBUTE TO JOE CIRIELLO

Tue 31 Aug 2021, 6:08 pm

RIP JOE CIRIELLO — March 1950 - August 2021

(We encourage those of you who knew Joe to add to this tribute and send to pam.rodolph@theprosperos.com)

Some of you on my (Facebook) feed may remember my friend Joe Ciriello. Those who do remember him may not have heard that he had been gravely ill with cancer. I just found out myself last week, and by the time I reached out to him, it was apparently already too late. I just received an email from Zoë a few minutes ago saying that Joe had passed.

Joe was my oldest friend. We met when were were 12 years old and lived on the same street in West Hollywood. I had just moved into the neighborhood and was riding my bike down Westbourne Drive. As I passed Joe's house, he bellowed something at me—I forget what, exactly—and very soon we became thick-as-thieves. I would learn that Joe's good-natured bellowing was one of his endearing signatures. He was a funny guy, sincere, larger than life. His energy always filled any room he happened to be in.

Many years later, I introduced Joe to The Prosperos, which, as it had for me, became one of the the threads woven into the tapestry of his life. That thread apparently continued for him long after I had lost interest.

I am sure Joe and I would have been great buddies to this very day. I loved the guy a lot, but time and occupations and preoccupations and distractions and monkey business and 8,000 miles of ocean separating us all these years meant that we only touched base occasionally on Facebook. That's too bad, but life and death is like that sometimes. Sigh!

Joe, I'll miss you.

RIP

REX ALEXANDER