Billy Fuccillo’s booming voice can be heard on the radio, on television, or on the lot if you live in Southwest Florida or close to one of his other dealerships.
According to his dealership, Fuccillo, 65, passed away on Friday, June 18, following months of deteriorating health.
It’s going to be huuuuuge! was Fuccillo’s catchphrase on-air, but he also had a large heart.
Along with running the Fuccillo Automotive Group, he frequently gave to charity, including $100,000 in 2019 for the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida to help fight local hunger.
Fuccillo had a big heart and throughout the years donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Salvation Army and the Harry Chapin Food Bank, but he always appeared to be the one receiving rather than giving.
Billy had a reputation for unexpectedly calling and stating, “Hey, I’ve got something for you. And as a result of that, Richard LeBer, CEO of the Harry Chapin Food Bank, stated, “You know, he fed many thousands of people in Southwest Florida.” “I believe that the word “big” will simply become part of everyday speech for a very long time to come.
When Fuccillo acquired Robert Goodman’s land and converted it into his Cape Coral Kia car dealership, the two became friends.
He was anxious about it, according to Goodman. “He phoned me Bobby, Bobby, and he said, ‘This doesn’t work, I need you to purchase it back from me, I want to, I want to get a money-back guarantee, and I was so convinced that it would work.'”
Fuccillo quickly established himself as a philanthropist by offering free homes and automobiles, as well as free gas days.
According to Goodman, “He was you know, he had this presence on TV. “But when you got to know him, he was really, you know, a humble man.
I’d want to express my gratitude to Billy Fuccillo of Fuccillo Kia in Cape Coral. In the words of one customer, Sandra Hamblin George, “we had such nice recollections of our excursions to Europe and the Bahamas.” “Thank you, Billy; we’ll miss you.
The Cape Coral and Port Charlotte Fuccillo Kia dealerships were sold to LMP Automotive Holdings, a Delaware-based company, in late 2020.
Fuccillo’s funeral will be conducted in Syracuse, New York on June 24, and you can read his obituary here.
In This Article...
What happened to Billy Fuccillo?
1956 saw the birth of Fuccillo in Greenport, Suffolk County, New York. After earning a marketing degree from Syracuse University in 1978, he worked at a number of auto shops. He went independent and started his own dealership in 1989. His catchphrase, “it’s HUGE!” is frequently repeated in his commercials. Over the years, the company expanded to over 25 dealerships in New York and Florida, selling a variety of brands.[3] Tom Park, Fuccillo’s production director and the straight man in many of the company’s commercials up until 2018, remarked that Fuccillo had originally improvised the line in response to the strong turnout to a sales event, and that the two liked it so much that they .[6]
After months of deteriorating health and battling a chronic illness, Fuccillo passed away in his Florida home on June 17, 2021. Park passed away nearly precisely one year later .[8]
Fuccillo sold his dealerships, right?
(NEWS 10) The Fucillo Automotive Group has sold two of its Schenectady stores. These locations are currently owned by Matthews Auto Group in Vestal, NY.
Billy Fuccillo did he pass?
A protracted illness claimed Fuccillo’s life on June 18. He was a Long Island native who later enrolled at Syracuse University. Fuccillo was well-known for his tagline from his ads, “It’s huuuuuuge!” He was also an enthusiastic golfer and a supporter of charitable causes who made a significant impact on the lives of many New Yorkers.
What disease did Billy Fuccillo suffer from?
Fuccillo’s passing was disclosed to members of the Syracuse Auto Dealers Association through email on Friday morning, according to WSTM.
Following a stroke, Fuccillo’s health had deteriorated during the previous year, and he sold the Ruane family his property in Cape Coral, Florida, for $2.25 million, according to the Fort Myers News-Press. At the time of his passing, he was a resident of Sarasota, Florida.
Two dealerships in southwest Florida, located in Port Charlotte and Cape Coral, were sold by Fuccillo last year to the publicly held LMP Automotive Holdings company, according to the newspaper. According to the Albany Times-Union, Fuccillo sold Matthews Auto Group three New York dealerships in the Syracuse area and two in the Rochester area in January 2021.
The advertisements Fuccillo was most famous for on television and radio always ended with a loud voice.
“In an interview with the Times Union in 2008, Fuccillo stated, “My mum says she mutes me when my advertisements come on.”
“William Fitzpatrick, the district attorney for Onondaga County, told WSTM that he was larger than life.
“Kim Perrella, vice president for Auto Shows and Member Relations at the Eastern New York Coalition of Automotive Retailers, Inc., told the Times-Union that he was a big man with a big personality.
Fitzpatrick claimed that Fuccillo, an enthusiastic golfer, attracted attention everywhere he went.
Every time I would play with him and he would make a shot, someone would exclaim, “That was HUGE!” and Billy would wave and smile, as if he were hearing it for the first time, Fitzpatrick told WSTM “Just a wonderful man.
Before earning a degree in marketing, Fuccillo played tight end for the football team at Syracuse University, according to the News-Press. According to the Times-Union, he claimed to be broke and on the verge of being kicked out of his flat after graduation.
Fuccillo told the newspaper, “The only job I could obtain was selling vehicles, and I discovered I was brilliant at it.
According to WKBW, Fuccillo was also renowned for his generosity. Fucillo Automotive provided hundreds of meals at a time to front-line staff at hospitals around Western New York during the COVID-19 outbreak.
People might have laughed at him, but Perrella told the Times-Union, “You know what? That man was one of the sharpest persons I have known because everyone knew his name.
According to the News-Press, Fuccillo organized a Styx performance on his Cape Coral lot in 2012 that attracted thousands of the band’s fans and resulted in the sale of dozens of vehicles.
When he sold 523 automobiles in a single day in 1996, Fuccillo claimed it was his best day as a dealer. According to the press, he invited Evil Knievel’s son Robbie to jump his motorcycle over 19 automobiles in front of the Adams Dealership.
Caroline went back to Fuccillo Kia, but why?
Back in 2017, she left her position. Then Billy Fuccillo sponsored a competition to choose Caroline’s replacement, and McKinzie Roth won. Billy claimed Caroline called him and requested to return.
Billy Fuccillo’s method?
Billy Fuccillo, a legendary automobile salesperson who became well-known throughout the Capital Region for his “larger than life” TV commercials, has suddenly after a protracted illness. He passed away at his Florida home following “months of deteriorating health.” At 64 years old, he was.
“It is with great regret that we tell you of the demise of former member and friend, Billy Fuccillo,” the Syracuse Auto Dealers Association said in a statement on June 18. In Upstate New York, the illustrious auto salesperson co-owned multiple businesses with his son Billy Fuccillo Jr. Numerous lives have already been lost in the year 2021. This year’s departures include authors Janet Malcolm, Heidi Ferrer, Dick Stolley, and Lisa Banes, as well as writers for “Dawson’s Creek” and other television shows.
Who is the owner of Fuccillo Kia?
Prior to leaving her position in November 2017, Caroline Renfro sold vehicles for Fuccillo Kia for eight years through radio ads, TV commercials, and direct mail. She has since returned to the company in 2019.
Billy Fuccillo, a loudmouthed and “The Cape Coral Fuccillo Kia car dealership’s huge! pitchman, who has been in charge of it since 2011, hasn’t been on broadcast this year.
His employer refused to comment on whether he is stepping down to let his son with the same name to take on a larger leadership position or it is for health reasons (the story that he suffered a significant medical blow late last year is one I cannot confirm).
I tried phoning the general managers in Cape Coral, Port Charlotte, Clearwater and four dealerships in New York several times over the past few weeks trying to get some answers. There are 23 Fuccillo-owned dealerships in New York and three in Florida, with four more near Orlando under development.
No one else there was authorized to comment, so I recently went to the Cape Coral dealership and tried to speak with the general manager there. I was informed he was too busy, so I left.
She claimed to have forwarded my several emails to Billy Fuccillo Jr., the online sales manager in Clearwater, but I never heard from him, and I’ve been trying to get in touch with him for weeks to find out what happened to his father.
Fuccillo Sr., who often responds to my texts, hasn’t gotten back to me since October 11, when I last met him while reporting about land next to his Cape Coral store that Sam Galloway Ford owns but isn’t currently developing.
Between then and the beginning of 2020, Fuccillo stopped recording the advertisements. He and his crew usually shoot at least a month’s worth of parts in a day.
Around a month later, Thaddeus Bullard joined sidekick Caroline Renfro in the advertisements, which she has been in since since.
Bullard, who participated in football at the University of Florida and with the Florida Firecats of the minor league in Estero in the early 2000s, has since gained notoriety as “WWE star Titus O’Neil. He’s a Tampa resident.
I tried calling Kia’s south regional manager and sent an email to the company’s corporate communications department. When I wrote in 2017 about how Fuccillo Kia had changed the vehicles we drive in Southwest Florida, Kia corporate had a lot to say about it. The Cape Coral store was recognized by Kia Corporate as the best-selling Kia dealership worldwide.
As you know, our dealers are franchised members of our business and as such are not employees of Kia Motors America. As a result, we (Kia Motors America) do not have a perspective to give on your inquiry, wrote James Bell, director of corporate communications for Kia. Hope that was useful.
A Catch-22 has always existed while writing about Fuccillo. The articles frequently receive a lot of readers and comments on social media, some of which condemn Fuccillo’s boisterous demeanor and others of which accuse me of giving him gratuitous exposure. Others add their appreciation or other displays of support.
I did sense some journalistic value because Fuccillo has been such a magnet for attention.
Gary Kuzmits, a newspaper reader from Naples, contacted me a few months ago to inquire about Fuccillo. I assured him that I would do everything in my power to respond. That this is the best I can accomplish right now makes me sad.
Every time you turned around, you saw him on TV or heard him on the radio,” Kuzmits said of Fuccillo’s TV appearances. “For me personally, I get a pleasure out of it. I have not heard or seen him for several months. It seems as though he vanished.
Kia of Port Charlotte’s owner?
LMP Automotive Holdings, a Delaware-based company, signed a contract to purchase the Fuccillo Kia dealerships in Cape Coral and Port Charlotte.
Bill Fuccillo, the owner of Fuccillo Kia, is highly known in the neighborhood, particularly for his involvement with the Harry Chapin food bank.
The Harry Chapin Food Bank’s president is Richard LeBer. He said, “We love him, and we really appreciate the support of Billy and of Fucillo Auto Group. Throughout the years they’ve been supporting us for a long time and helped a lot of our friends and neighbors.
Billy Fuccillo and the business were active participants in the annual WINK Feeds Families Hunger Walk, which raises funds to feed neighborhood families.
How many Fuccillo stores are still operating?
New York’s WATERTOWN (WWNY) – There has been a huge shift in the neighborhood auto industry.
Wally Darwish now owns 12 Fuccillo Automotive dealerships around New York, including the Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and Mitsubishi dealerships in Watertown and Adams.
“When I learned that I could and had the chance to buy these dealerships, I really pursued it and pursued it hard,” Darwish said on Tuesday.
Darwish acknowledges that he must step into very huge shoes, but the New Jersey native claims that his love of the spotlight is similar to Fuccillo’s.
“Man, you remind us of that man Billly Fuccillo,” people would frequently say to me when they saw me on television when I would say, “Come on down, have fun, and get a wonderful price, woo hoo,” Darwish added.
Darwish wants all of his clients and colleagues to continue to exhibit the same compassion and consideration that Fuccillo was known for.
I’m very thrilled that the people that are here will have the chance to grow alongside me, he remarked.
Darwish gave every employee at the places it acquired the opportunity to work for him or her going forward.
In addition, Darwish claims that he plans to buy successful dealerships like Fuccillo’s in order to achieve his goal of becoming a household name in five to seven years.