New Bedford, MA – John J. (Jack) Zugale of Halifax, MA, the National Service Manager for binding and finishing equipment supplier C.P. Bourg for 27 years until his retirement in 2007, passed away October 17, 2009 at age 66 after a short illness.
 
Mr. Zugale was born in Framingham, MA and attended schools there. After graduating from high school, he served in the U.S. Navy from 1963 to 1967, during the Vietnam War. Following his Naval tour of duty in 1967, he joined the Boston office of the A.B. Dick Company in Waltham, MA where for many years he drew on his unique interpersonal skills and keen aptitude for mechanical engineering as a Technical Service Representative, eventually moving to the Chicago headquarters and serving as National Technical Representative.
 
In September 1980, Mr. Zugale joined C.P. Bourg Inc., becoming the company's first National Service Technician as well as the first person hired by C.P. Bourg's newly appointed EVP and General Manager Richard Trapilo to staff the Belgian manufacturer's new American operations. Despite his "national" job title, Mr. Zugale's expertise with mechanical systems and ebullient personality took him throughout North America and occasionally to Central and South America. He also taught technical training classes for many years during his tenures at A.B. Dick and C.P. Bourg.
 
"Sadly Jack Zugale, C.P. Bourg's first technical manager in North America, passed away from cancer. Jack was and always will be the best technician ever in the industry. He was a brilliant, brilliant technical guy who could fix anything – with or without a manual. His friendly ways will be sadly missed," said Mr. Trapilo.
 
"Jack Zugale always had time to solve a technical problem – even if he got a call at 10 o'clock on a Friday night," said C.P. Bourg Vice President of Sales Donald Schroeder, who worked with Mr. Zugale at A.B. Dick for several years prior to joining C.P. Bourg in 1984. "He was just that kind of guy."
 
"Jack had an incredible mechanical knowledge – and electrical knowledge for that matter – and it was always amazing to experience how he thought and taught," recalled C.P. Bourg's Director of Branch Operations Jim Tressler, who worked with Jack from the time he joined C.P. Bourg in the early 1990s.  "He was a legend in this business. Everybody knew him and everybody loved him. He was just an incredible guy – an unbelievable human being."
 
C.P. Bourg National Service Administrator Brian Rutter portrayed Jack Zugale as a "very unique person who was exceptionally good at what he did, extremely well known and well liked, and a dedicated father who would do anything for his three sons" – a description echoed by C.P. Bourg National Technical Support Representative Vinny Paleczka and Northeast Technical Manager John Dahlstrom. "He was the easiest going guy in the world, and always willing to help out and give anyone the benefit of the doubt," said Mr. Paleczka.

"He was also an avid fisherman," said Mr. Schroeder, recounting a time when he had taken Jack and a local dealer deep-sea fishing off the coast of Florida. "His first time out, Jack catches not one but two sailfish, and when the boat returns to the dock early the following morning one guy who was lined up waiting to go out with the acclaimed skipper confides he's been trying to catch a sailfish for 12 or 13 years, at which point Jack jumps off the boat onto the dock, grunts dismissively and calmly states that we caught three or four and he got two himself  – then asks the guy, 'What's the big deal?'"
 
Mr. Zugale is survived by his sons Joseph M. of South Boston, Jason M. of Brighton, and Jonathan D. Zugale of Halifax; Judith E. (Quigley) Zugale; and his sister Carol (Zugale) Salvi of Holliston, MA.
 
Relatives and friends are invited to visit the MacKinnon Funeral Home, 760 Washington St., Whitman, MA on Tuesday Oct. 20 from 5 to 9 PM. Funeral Services will be held at the funeral home on Wednesday, October 21 at 10 AM. Interment will be at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne Wednesday at 12:30 PM.
 
To share personal remembrances of Jack Zugale with his family, friends and colleagues, please visit his tribute page at http://www.mackinnonfuneral.com/obituaries/tributes.php?id=1656.
 
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in John's memory to the Jimmy Fund Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 10 Brookline Place West, Brookline, MA 02445; Attn: Contributions Services, 6th Fl.
Tel: 800-52-JIMMY (54669), or on the Web at http://www.jimmyfund.org/gif/gift.asp.