Rob Marcocchio was a master networker and storyteller whose acumen with names and numbers was key to his career as a principal in a large insurance agency and his work as a bloodstock agent, which involves evaluating thoroughbreds for potential buyers.
“Rob struggled with reading but he had a gift for numbers,” said his partner in horse racing pursuits, former Channel 7 news anchor Ron Magers. “He had an almost photographic memory for things he had seen or had to do with numbers. His recall in those areas was just amazing.”
Marcocchio, 75, died Aug. 18 in Alexian Brothers Hospice in Elk Grove Village. A resident of Rolling Meadows, he had been diagnosed with cancer six years ago, said his daughter, Cara Morkes.
Marcocchio was born Oct. 21, 1943, in Toronto, where he grew up.
“Rob was not a very good student but he had incredible street smarts,” said his sister, Sandra Belvedere. “His memory for detail was incredible and his brain never rested. He was a captivating and gifted storyteller.”
He moved to the Northwest suburbs in the 1970s, taking a job as a sales representative for Miracle Span, a company that made Quonset huts for farmers to store implements and crops.
He went on to become a principal at the Assurance Agency in Schaumburg, where he worked for 35 years. He met the founder of Assurance Agency, Jim Blackburn, through connections at Arlington International Racecourse, said Jeff Blackburn, the founder’s son and the firm’s chairman emeritus.
“Dad was very interested in breeding and racing horses and betting on horses and so was Rob. We were going to set up a mortality program for horses, writing life insurance for horses who were racing, and he hired Rob.
“It took off for a while before the market changed but by then Rob had gotten involved in a lot more than that. His network of relationships was remarkable and he rarely would forget anyone he met. He knew what you did, where you lived and where you worked. He maintained his relationships and he maintained his office. It took him leaving the planet for him to leave Assurance.”
Marcocchio was on the board of the Better Business Bureau for 11 years, and in 2018 the BBB of Chicago and Northern Illinois selected Marcocchio as Torchbearer of the Year, the highest award the organization confers annually for service to the community. Former honorees include former Gov. Jim Thompson, former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the late Bob Abt, founder of Abt Electronics.
“When they honored him they gave him three minutes to speak and he spoke for 22 minutes,” his daughter said. “He was not a man of a few words. He was loud, he was expressive and he was opinionated.
“My father taught me to have a dream, to have a goal. He took what little money he had and came to Chicago from Toronto (because) he had a dream.”
Marcocchio struck up friendships at Arlington and on the golf course by day and in Northwest suburban bars and restaurants by night, hanging out with fellow fun-lovers such as the late horse owners Bill Walsh and Pat Flavin (once a member of Maywood Park’s hierarchy) and Matt Baines and Dick Roggeveen.
“He was the world’s greatest networker. He’d meet people at the racetrack and he’d end up insuring them,” Baines said. “He insured everything and anything — cars, boats, companies. If he didn’t do it, he’d put a team together and they’d go in and make a presentation.”
Roggeveen described Marcocchio as “the best roaster … his endearing attribute I will remember was his ability to make life fun, to make us laugh, particularly at ourselves.”
As a bloodstock agent, one who evaluates thoroughbreds based on their pedigree and conformation and makes recommendations to owner clients, he won the respect of the racing community at Chicago tracks and thoroughbred insiders at the major auctions in Lexington, Kentucky, and Ocala, Florida.
“In 1992, I was getting ready to sell Lehmi Go, a mare I had great success with (as a racehorse),” said Magers. “I sought consultation from Rob and he hooked me up with Bill Betz (owner-operator of Betz Thoroughbreds breeding farm) in Kentucky. Rob and I became partners and friends. He has essentially been part of every horse deal I’ve done since then, which involves dozens and dozens of horses. This year we own shares in 35-38 horses.”
Betz met Marcocchio through Jim Blackburn.
“Rob boarded a few horses at the farm and then started breeding horses and consigning them,” Betz said. “Our relationship evolved. What I remember most about him was his enthusiasm, his loyalty and his ability to take the bad news with the good. You come to appreciate someone like Rob who not only understood but never second-guessed. He was 100% supportive.”
During the past decade Magers and Marcocchio were owner-breeders of two Illinois-bred state champions, Third Chance and Banner Bill.
“He sometimes called me his best friend,” Magers said. “I know there are many others he called his best friend and he meant it every time he said it about them. A life is not a given number of years; it’s a number of years you are given. We all would agree he used them very well.”
Marcocchio’s future wife, Lynn, brought him to her parents’ home for Thanksgiving dinner after they started dating, according to her brother, Dr. Peter Galdoni.
“He was very nervous and my parents were a little suspicious because he was about 10 years older. But they really liked him. He fit in well with the family,” Galdoni said. “He never went to college but on his LinkedIn page he said he went to the college of hard knocks and graduated with honors.”
According to Baines, Marcocchio took great pride in becoming an American citizen during the past decade.
“I have a picture of him that day waving an American flag,” Baines said. “This was a guy who came from Toronto with very little money and knowing no one and who ended up with 600 friends in church for his funeral Mass.”
In addition to his wife, daughter and sister, he is survived by a son, Jonas; two grandchildren; and another sister, Kathy Citrullo.
Services were held.
Neil Milbert is a freelance writer.
This obituary has been updated to reflect Rob Marcocchio’s correct age at the time of his death. The Tribune regrets the error.
