A shock wave rippled through Grant Park as neighbors learned that longtime resident and community activist Paul Zucca died unexpectedly on Halloween.
“When I came down the stairs on Friday, I was alone for the first time in 47 years,” said Zucca’s partner John Newcomb.
The couple has been a vibrant part of the neighborhood and its revitalization since moving from Midtown in 1982. Then, friends wouldn’t visit “us because we were south of I-20,” said Newcomb. “They felt they needed a passport.”
Born in Rome, New York, to Donald and Mary Zucca in 1947, Paul Zucca learned how to deal with the public by observing his father, who worked in retail, said Newcomb. Donald Zucca “was one of the most easygoing men you’d every meet. He could communicate with anybody, just like Paul. Both of them were very curious about other people.”
In the 1980s, Grant Park, like many intown areas, was down at the heels, full of rentals and transients, with high crime and few services, Newcomb remembered. Zucca and he liked the neighborhood location and architecture and decided to make it a better place to live.
They helped in establishing a Grant Park charter school, rebuilding the school after it burned, dealing with Zoo Atlanta, working on political campaigns, setting up a conservancy and recruiting people to run for office. Zucca also spent two years convincing others in the neighborhood — through meetings and education — to have Grant Park designated as a historic district to prevent its aging Victorian and Craftsman houses and other structures from being demolished instead of renovated.
Credit: Courtesy of John Newcomb
Credit: Courtesy of John Newcomb
“You’d see him talk to the Atlanta City Council and then water boys, and he was the same person,” says Justin Miller, who rents the house next door to Newcomb and Zucca. “He was a very rare person, kind and warm. Knowing him was such a good lesson for how to model your life.”
Paul Zucca graduated from the University of New England, earned an Master of Arts in government from Loyola University in Chicago and received a law degree from John Marshall School of Law in Atlanta in 1975. He worked for Atlanta University Center for a year, preparing a health services planning grant, before moving to the Georgia Department of Transportation, where he worked for Commissioner Tom Moreland. He then moved on to Del Mar Enterprises, running IHOP restaurants with Newcomb.
They closed their last establishment in 2002 and focused on managing rental properties they had purchased.
Zucca served as president of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association and as the director of Neighborhood Planning Unit W. He was a member of the Fulton County Personnel Board and various civic committees. He knew well Atlanta mayors and city council members and he persuaded people who had never considered running for public office to do so.
One of those political recruits was Margaret Kaiser, who defeated an incumbent and then served as a Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives for 10 years. Her late husband had gotten to know Paul and John when a partner and he opened a pizza restaurant in Grant Park.
“They took them under their wings,” she said. “They wanted the restaurant to be successful. And they were there constantly.” For her, Zucca was a political mentor as well as a friend.
Atlanta City Council member Mary Norwood counts Zucca and Newcomb as close friends. She said she looked forward to one of Zucca’s “morning calls. You would hear about everything going on, from all over the city.”
Zucca was the consummate communicator and “an exceptional strategist,” she said. “He always worked both sides of the aisle, and he connected people from across the city. He loved people and he loved the city. He was so optimistic about Atlanta.”
Newcomb said he has heard from various Atlanta politicians, all of whom want to speak at Zucca’s memorial service. These include Felicia Moore, Robb Pitts and Shirley Franklin. Kaiser and Norwood also plan to speak.
In addition to his partner, Paul Zucca is survived by his sister Michelle Kakoullis, son and daughter-in-law Dylan and Andrea Greathouse and their children Braxton and Lilionah, and numerous other family members. A memorial service and celebration mass will be held Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 353 Peachtree Street, NE. A gathering will follow at 504 Hill Street SE, in Grant Park. In lieu of flowers, a contribution to Zoo Atlanta is preferred.
