Recently at a viewing for my cousin, I came across a poem called THE DASH. The poem tells the story of a man who speaks at the funeral of his friend. He starts by referring to the dates on her tombstone which represent the date she was born and the date she died. With tears in his eyes he said what mattered most was the dash between those dates for this represented all the time she was alive on earth. The poem ends by saying, “So when your eulogy is read for your life’s actions to rehash would you be proud of the things they say and how you spent your dash”. On Friday September 19, 2008, the late Tony Sparacino was honored in a tribute at the Mazzoni Center because of the way he spent his dash.

Tony was born in Pittsburgh, PA, but after moving to Philadelphia in 1981 to attend Temple University, he never looked back. Tony loved the city, the people, the culture and the gay community. And, Tony loved fashion. Boy did he love fashion! After several jobs in the clothing industry, Tony started Sparacino Men’s at 13 th and Sansom. Sparacino Men’s was well-knowned and had been featured on local and national television as well as named Philadelphia Magazine’s Best Men’s Clothing Shop.

Now you would think with owning his own business that Tony would have enough to keep him busy right? But not so. Tony was a huge donator in both time and money and very active and supportive of the community. He was always volunteering. He was a founding member and Vice President of the Sapphire Fund and he helped out with Manna and the Mazzoni Center and just about anything else. Tony was also active in the social scene and in 1998 Tony started the Lucky Lounge, one of the area’s longest running monthly parties.

Sadly, Tony passed away in February of 2007 and Philly and the world lost a really great guy. But through his tragic death, emerged another really great guy, Tony’s partner Mark Toscani. Mark was devastated by Tony’s sudden passing. And in his attempt to deal with his tremendous pain, he created a list of 22 things that he would do since losing Tony. The list included items such as grievance counseling for his young son; and finding a new home and a new job. But there was more Mark wanted to do. So months after Tony was gone, with the help of friends, Mark decided to reinstate the Lucky Lounge monthly party. But this time, he had the participating bar donate 20% of its bar sales. The money was collected and earmarked towards a $10,000 donation to be used by the Mazzoni Center for a procedure room dedicated in Tony’s honor. During the same time, with help from the Sapphire Fund, donations were being raised to be used for an annual scholarship fund. The scholarship fund is to be awarded to an LGBTQ or allied student majoring in the arts and active in community service.

On Friday, September 19, 2008, Mark completed the last two tasks on his list of 22. The Mazzoni Center’s lobby was filled with friends and admirers of Tony who watched as the first annual Tony Sparacino Memorial Scholarship was awarded to John Davenport. John is a junior at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia studying Theatre Design and concentrating in lighting and costume. He is currently involved as the assistant costume designer for the musical Little Women and volunteers for the Sapphire Fund. After John received his award, the group moved to the area outside the new procedure room where Tony’s partner Mark Toscani unveiled the plaque that adjoins the room. It reads

Now that the money has been raised for the procedure room, all proceeds from Lucky Lounge will go to the scholarship fund. Through these donations, Tony’s spirit will continue to live on, and he should be very proud of how he spent his dash.

And in closing, for me as I attended the tribute, I kept thinking that it was really a tribute to two men, Tony and Mark.