Obituary of Donald J. Cecchi

Cecchi, Donald J., 87, died on Monday, May 12, 2025.  Mr. Cecchi was born in Hackensack, New Jersey and lived in New York City’s Greenwich Village for over sixty years.

Donald led a rich, interesting and fulfilling life intertwining his many interests over the years.  He majored in religion (an academic exercise for him) at Yale University, graduating in 1959.  Don’s primary interest at the time, however, was the theatre and he later worked on off Broadway shows and in tent repertory theatre traveling with companies in the tri-state area. After graduating from Yale, he joined the first group of JFK’s Peace Corps Volunteers and spent three years teaching in the small town of Paracale in the Philippines.  Don stayed in touch with his fellow volunteers for the rest of his life, including many reunions of the group over the years. He graduated from NYU School of Law three years after his return.  He later joined the legal department at Lincoln Center.  He also worked for the Koch Administration in economic development in the 1980’s.   Donald ended his career in a management position at ASCAP, and subsequently formed the management consulting firm Cecchi Consulting Group.  For many years, he owned a home in Putnam Valley, NY where he hosted lively family gatherings.  His favorite publications were The New Yorker magazine and the New York Times which he continued to read from cover to cover every day in paper form.  Donald will be remembered for his lifelong intellectual curiosity, his colorful nature, his (sometimes acerbic) sense of humor, his outspoken candor and the joy he found spending time with his family.

Donald was predeceased by his parents, James D. Checki, Sr. and Helen (nee Scotti) Checki, his brother James D. Cecchi and his wife Lucille Andriola Cecchi, his sister Eileen Checki Rago and her husband Rocco Rago, and his niece Andrea Cecchi.  Donald, along with his brother James and sister-in-law Lucille and their children returned their family name to its original spelling, Cecchi, in 1984.

He is survived by his cherished nieces and nephews and their families, Hilary Rago Walsh, Mary Ellen Rago and her children Jillian (Bryan) Orticelli and their son Lucas, Abigail Calaceto, Sara Calaceto and her children Jacob and Anthony Trivaudey, and Caroline Calaceto and her children Isabella, Solshine and Jerom, Lesley Cecchi and her son Marco Lattimore, James E. Cecchi, his wife Claire and their son James M. Cecchi, Edward Cecchi, his wife Regan and their children Cella and Olive and Laurie Rizzo, her husband John and their children John and Anthony.  Donald is also survived by his Checki cousins Marie, Terry, Laura, Jack and Danny and their families and his Scotti cousins Joann and Peter and their families.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend Donald's interment at Hillside Cemetery, Lyndhurst on Friday, May 23, 2025 at 12 PM.  The family is planning a memorial this summer to celebrate his life.

The family requests donations be made in Donald’s memory to "Peace Corps Alumni Foundation for Philippine Development (PCAFPD)” which provides scholarships to Filipino students so that they might attend college.  You may send your contribution to: PCAFPD, P.O. Box 100114, Arlington, VA 22210.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Nazare Memorial Home, Inc., 403 Ridge Road, Lyndhurst, NJ.