Obituary

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Stephen's name may be made to the animal shelter of your choice.

A memorial service will be planned for a later date.

Stephen Edward Pirigyi, 83, of Mount Holly, NC (formerly of Valhalla, NY), passed away February 26, 2021 at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, NC due to complications from cancer surgery. Stephen was born on September 28, 1937 to the late Stephen Pirigyi and Anna Pirigyi. Stephen's life will forever be cherished in the lives of his beloved wife Joan, sons Stephen and Christopher, his beautiful daughters-in-law Jennifer and Heather, his cherished grandchildren Ashley, Christopher and Justin, sister Sue and brother-in-law Gene, nieces Cindy and Betty, a myriad of devoted cousins and friends and his favorite grand dogs Dante and Maxx.

Steve's family was everything to him. He was the gold standard of what a father, grandfather and most significantly, a husband should be. He loved his wife Joan more than anything else and he made his purpose in life to make sure she was happy and living the best life that they could live together. He had such a calming presence and happily shared his wisdom with anyone who would listen. He was always there for his children whenever they needed him. His relationship with his sons was incredible. Steve was the guiding force in their success, both, in their careers and marriages and made them the best fathers they could be to their children. We cannot express just how profound his impact was in making sure that we all have a great and successful life filled with happiness and love. He never judged. He just helped us find our paths and made sure to let us know that he loved us and just how proud he was of us. That willingness to just express his love without hesitation made all of us simply better human beings. Every correspondence from him was either funny, loving or encouraging. He was a gem and we will forever be grateful for the time we had with him. While his absence will always be felt and we will never stop missing him, he created the most incredibly strong family so we can continue to live by his example. Steve was the patriarch of the family and that will never change.

Steve loved his craft of selling heavy equipment. He worked at Manitowoc for 38 years before "retiring" for a fraction of a second. Then he shared his passion and skills for other enterprises helping them be successful in a challenging and competitive environment. He was a titan in his industry and referred to lovingly as the "God Father" and not because he was tough or rough, but by always practicing the highest of level integrity and honesty. He never sold anything that was not right for his clients. He walked away many times from opportunities because he knew his product was not the best for the purpose they required. He would even point them to his competitors if it were the right thing to do. He also gladly mentored anyone who allowed him to and there are many professionals out there today that can credit their success to learning from Steve on how to be the best that one could be.

On his desk, he put a list together of the things he wanted to do when he returned from the hospital. It read "Retire, Pull the plug, Keep Busy Doing Things". Then the next sentence was a list of activities that he wanted to do: "Keep doing Mailings for Aurelius and searching for repair jobs for WHECO and doing other fun things". Obviously, Steve's definition of retirement is different than most, but it is an example of someone who was fortunate to just absolutely love what he did. "Work" was not work to him. It was fun and it was his hobby. That is a blessing that we should all learn from.

Thank you, Stephen, Dad, "Groppy", "Honey" for being you. Your family and friends will miss such an amazing person. We all love you.