The Tamaqua Area Chamber of Commerce honored Eric Zizelmann as Business Person of the Year, Frank Fabrizio as the Joseph Plasko Jr. Citizenship Award recipient, and Bowe & Odorizzi Law as Business of the Year during its annual dinner Thursday at the Mountain Valley Golf Course, Barnesville.

“It’s very humbling to be up here,” Eric Zizelmann said as he accepted his award.

He is the fifth generation to run the Zizelmann-Gulla Funeral Home in Tamaqua and recently partnered with Jay Hollenbach Jr. to launch the oil and diesel business, Hollenbach Home Comfort Services of Tamaqua.

“He is very involved in the community and very caring and passionate to the individuals of this community,” Chamber President Kim Noel said.

Eric Zizelmann began by thanking each employee of both businesses by name, talking about the care and dedication they give to their jobs.

“But the best part of it is the team that is my family,” he said.

He invited his father, Jon M. Zizelmann, to the stage.

Eric Zizelmann recalled being 6 years old when his father was chairman of the 1977 United Way campaign. At the time, the organization posted a larger-than-life thermometer at the Five Points Intersection to show how many donations the campaign had collected. As donations were received, the line on the thermometer would rise.

The elder Zizelmann drove by the thermometer often with his son.

“I remember my dad saying, ‘Hey, tell me what that’s painted up to now,’” Eric Zizelmann said. “At some point I said to him, ‘Dad, why are you doing this?’”

What his dad told him resonates with him to this day.

“He said, ‘Someday you’re going to find a place to live and raise a family and when that happens, you are going to be part of a community. It’s very important that you somehow give back to that community, whether it’s in the form of coaching a softball team, or being on a public library board or writing a check to the ambulance association. And that’s especially true if you have a business,” Eric Zizelmann recalled.

He explained to his son that it was a way to give back to community and those who lend their support.

Eric Zizelmann then listed the many groups and organizations that his father supported over the decades, including serving with the Pennsylvania National Guard, driving an ambulance for the American Hose Co., serving on the Tamaqua Industrial Development Enterprises, and being a director, past president and current member of the Tamaqua Library.

“I guess my point is, I don’t feel worthy of this, especially when I consider the others who have been up here,” he said. “If I am at all, it is only because of the example that this man has set for me and my sisters and everybody else in this town that he loves.”

A 1989 Tamaqua Area High School graduate, Eric Zizelmann earned degrees in physics and mathematics from Susquehanna University and Bucknell University before obtaining a degree in funeral service from Northampton Community College in 1999. He serves as the master of ceremonies for Tamaqua Memorial Day Service of Remembrance; is a location coordinator for the annual Wreath Across America event at Sky-View Memorial Park in Hometown; initiated a Tamaqua Area Community Partnership project called Tamaqua Remembers; and is one of the four volunteers who developed the new Tamaqua Choose Happiness website. He also volunteered with the Friends of Tuscarora and Locust Lake State Parks and served a 10-year term on the board of directors at the Tamaqua Public Library.

Fabrizio is known for his over-the-top holiday lights display at his Brockton home. A tradition started by his late father, Fabrizio took over when he was 12 and continues after 49 years.

When called to the stage, Fabrizio’s speech was short.

“Thank you, everybody,” he said.

“He’s used to being behind the camera and not in front of people,” Noel said.

Fabrizio volunteers on the Tamaqua Spirit of Christmas Committee, dedicating his time and skills to illuminate Tamaqua’s Depot Square Park every holiday season. He also owns Remember When Video Productions.

State Sen. David G. Argall, who presented proclamations to all winners, said Fabrizio preserved many of his family’s old videos by transferring them to DVDs.

“He has done wonderful work in allowing me to maintain the memories of my children from 35 years ago,” Argall said.

Bowe & Odorizzi Law’s main office is at 109 W. Broad St. in Tamaqua. A satellite office is in Pottsville.

Tony Odorizzi, an attorney in the firm along with attorneys Jeff Bowe, Erik Helbing and Marty Cerullo, accepted the award.

“I can’t imagine anyone has ever been more proud to stand up here, and more proud to be from Tamaqua,” Odorizzi said. “I am blessed to make a living in our downtown.”

Bowe & Odorizzi Law was formed in 2018 as a successor to the firm of Bowe, Lisella & Bowe that existed in Tamaqua from 1979-2017.

Odorizzi thanked family, employees and the community for its support.

“It takes so much to run a business in a town like ours,” he said. “You need clients, you need staff, you need loyalty, you need friends. Everyone here will tell you the same thing about Tamaqua: We’re in it together. We’re in it for the long haul. We’re together. It’s just that kind of town.”

The firm concentrates its practice in a host of areas from municipal work to credit card defense, and represents Tamaqua Borough, Tamaqua Area School District, Tamaqua Area Water Authority, Tamaqua Sewer Authority, Tamaqua CRIZ Authority and the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, in addition to many local businesses.

Honorees also received proclamations from state Rep. Jamie Barton.

Keynote speaker Kathy Henderson, who recently retired from the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation, talked about “Promoting Tamaqua.”