Thomas X. Giaccone, 90, Was Portrait Painter

Thomas Xavier Giaccone, a portrait artist, died of complications of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases at his home in Wainscott on Jan. 8. An Army veteran who served in the Korean War, he was 90 years old and had been ill for some time. 

Born on Oct. 1, 1928, in Brooklyn to the former Laura Marino and Francis X. Giaccone, he attended Polytechnic Preparatory Country Day School, and Colgate University, and earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Teachers College of Columbia University. 

After the war, he started a design firm, Giaccone Graphics in New York. Later, he taught advertising at the Fashion Institute of Technology in the city and eventually became chairman of the department. 

In the late 1980s, he met Mary Tortorello, the woman to whom he was married for 30 years. The couple lived in an old schoolhouse in Laurel Hollow, N.Y., which he had restored, before building their house in Wainscott, where he enjoyed painting and hosting get-togethers with family and friends. 

He is survived by his wife, two stepchildren, and three grandchildren. 

A memorial celebration will take place on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the  Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton. Donations in his memory have been suggested to the Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center at adrcinc.org, or East End Hospice at eeh.org.