Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso has died. The announcement was made on the club's website.
With great sorrow and sadness, the Commisso family, including his wife Catherine, his children Giuseppe and Marisa, and his sisters Italia and Raffaelina, announce the passing of President Rocco B. Commisso. After a long period of treatment, our beloved president has left us , and today we all mourn his passing.
Born in Calabria on November 25, 1949, he emigrated with his family to the United States at just 12 years old. After a stint in Pennsylvania, he moved to New York, where he attended university on a scholarship earned thanks to his soccer skills.
He trained as an engineer and then worked at Pfizer, but his passion was entrepreneurship: in 1995, he founded Mediacom, with the goal of acquiring and relaunching cable systems in the smallest and most underserved communities in the US. The company's IPO was the springboard that brought him back to Italy, a wealthy man and a football enthusiast, to purchase Fiorentina from Della Valle.
"For his family, he was an example, a guide, a loyal and faithful man who, alongside his wife Catherine, celebrated 50 years of marriage. He was a strict yet loving father to his children, as was his own sweet and decisive nature," the club's statement continued. "His love for Fiorentina was the most beautiful gift he gave himself, spending unforgettable days with the boys and girls of the youth teams, always with a caress and a smile for everyone. Unstoppable, he worked until his final days, dedicating himself to his companies Mediacom and Fiorentina and to their future."
Football was his love, "and Fiorentina became his love seven years ago when Rocco took over the Viola club and began to love its fans, its colors, and the city of Florence."
Under his guidance, Fiorentina reached two Conference League finals and one Coppa Italia final."
"Call me Rocco," he simply told everyone, with his extraordinary empathy. "And he has always been close to Florence and the Florentines, in everyday life and even during the most difficult period of the Covid emergency when the 'Forza e Cuore' campaign allocated significant donations to the city's hospitals. The Rocco B. Commisso Viola Park, the home of Fiorentina," built just outside the Tuscan capital, "will live forever bearing his name."
