Lifelong Wakefieldian is the town’s ‘Piano Man’ and so much more
WAKEFIELD — Pasquale “Patsy” Zagaria, Wakefield High Class of 1951, is the grand marshal of the 2025 Fourth of July parade.
The Wakefield Independence Day Committee, which organizes the parade, announced Patsy’s honor in April.
This year’s parade steps off at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 4.
The 2025 parade grand marshal has lived in Wakefield his entire life and has worked as a band leader, solo pianist and piano and organ teacher for over 60 years. In 2022, our late colleague Gail Lowe profiled Patsy in the Daily Item. That story appeared under the headline “Wakefield’s ‘Piano Man’ still hitting the keys.” Please note that Patsy turned 92 in April.
The full story is below.
By GAIL LOWE
WAKEFIELD—William Shakespeare once said, “If music be the food of love, play on.”
Lifelong Wakefield resident Pasquale “Patsy” Zagaria took the bard’s statement to heart and has played on for nearly all of his 89 years, delighting audiences with his excellent piano skills both at home and as far away as Florida.
At Christmas time in 2021, Patsy visited the Burlington Mall to play everyone’s favorite holiday songs for people who were shopping or having a bite to eat near the retail stores near Patsy’s “stage.”
His daughter Holly Zagaria was on hand to film her father using her iPhone, and now there are five mini videos with Patsy’s own piano music playlist on YouTube at WCAT community access TV studio. (See below for the Web addresses.)
WCAT Producer Adam Nestle and Chief Engineer Ian McDermott were only too happy to lend their expertise to create Patsy’s “amazing” playlist, said WCAT Studio Administrator Barbara Worley.
If she were still alive, Patsy’s wife and Holly’s mother Sharon (Pothier) Zagaria would be proud of her husband and daughter. Some Wakefieldians might remember Sharon when she taught at several of the town’s elementary schools—Walton, Doyle and West Ward—and the Galvin Middle School.
Sharon was every bit as accomplished as her beloved husband. She received an award from the State House for her teaching methods, brought her students to Camp Nihan Education Center in Saugus and helped mentor students at Lesley College. She also helped clean up Lake Quannapowitt and was active with the National Audubon Society by helping with watershed projects, and she won a state award in environmental education with New England Discovery.
All this is testimony to the fact that the Zagaria family of Wakefield were, and still are, pillars of the community.
Worley said Patsy’s playlist got its start when he called WCAT Executive Director Ryan Boyd to ask how to watch the football playoffs. Ryan handed the phone to Barbara and before long the playlist was launched over the airways.
“Holly recorded her father’s music in December 2021 at the Burlington Mall,” Worley explained. “And he was wondering how to get it before the public.”
Patsy was also interested in filming new sessions, but that meant finding a location and a solid, finely-tuned piano. In the meantime, Worley worked with what the studio had—the Burlington Mall videos.
“We aired them a lot at WCAT-TV, especially the holiday music, and put them on the studio’s YouTube channel,” she said.
The videos were also shared with other local community access TV stations. At least eight picked them up and the music was aired.
The road Patsy took to the playlist’s launch was lengthy but well worth each step. Born at the former Melrose Hospital on April 22, 1933 to Silvia (Rufo) Zagaria and Pasquale Zagaria, both natives of Italy, Patsy began weekly piano lessons when he was just eight years old.
His father was working for the town’s Water Department, a job that paid a mere $12 per week, and one of those hard-earned dollars was allocated to Patsy’s music lessons with Madeline LoFaro Kirmes, a private piano teacher Patsy still refers to as “a beautiful teacher of classical music.” He also studied with his step-uncle Joe Richards.
After three years of lessons, Patsy decided he had learned all that he could learn. The invitations of his friends outside the windows of his home to come outside and play football and tag were too persuasive to ignore.
“I felt that I was missing out, and not only that—the dollar bills for my lessons could have been put to better use for food and keeping a roof over our heads,” he said.
But when Patsy told his mother that he wanted to end his lessons, she said, “We don’t do things like that in this house. When we start things, we finish them.”
Though Patsy was surprised at his mother’s words, he continued his lessons but didn’t practice. Then tragedy struck the Zagaria family when Patsy’s younger brother “Billy” contracted leukemia and died at age eight. Patsy was a few years older at the time, and the loss not only affected his parents but himself, as well. He missed his brother’s company greatly and the outdoor games they had played together—tossing balls, kicking the can and playing hide and seek, to name a few.
“My parents were never the same after Billy died, nor was I,” he said.
It was around this time that Patsy began to practice piano again. In fact, the instrument became his “best friend.”
He remembers with fondness his first talent show. The entire auditorium at Wakefield High School was filled to capacity, and he was named winner of the top cash prize. He went on to win two more competitions in Wakefield, as well as shows in Reading and Lynnfield.
To this day, he cannot begin to express how happy he was to win those awards because both his mother and father were in the audience and witnessed him being honored. For the first time since the death of Billy, he saw a glimmer of peace and happiness return to his family.
Patsy went on to win other talent competitions—seven in all. Some featured song and dance and one competition brought in a battle of piano players to the First Parish Congregational Church in Wakefield.
“Miss LoFaro and her whole family came to watch,” said Patsy. “I had not seen her in many years.”
His former piano teacher may also have come to see the young man who had played piano on the Newsboys Program aired by WMEX radio when Patsy was 14 years old. A year later, he became a high school student and a member of the football and baseball teams. He also served as class president throughout his high school years until he graduated in 1951.
When Patsy was drafted into the U.S. Army following graduation, he performed for the troops in South Korea from 1952 to 1954 and ended up in Special Services stationed at the 121 Evacuation Hospital. By then, he was 19 years old. His commission was to entertain the patients for two hours every morning.
On his very first day as “get well pianist,” Patsy learned that a man from Wakefield whose surname was Shanahan was among those hospitalized after being injured on the front lines.
Fortunately for Patsy, he was able to continue his musical education on the GI Bill at Berklee College of Music from 1956 to 1958. While a student, he made a few good musical contacts and started his own combo called Pat Zagaria’s Orchestra. His good nature and natural music ability made him popular with the other musicians, and they were soon hired to play at weddings, proms and other celebrations. Patsy also played at The Ship restaurant on Rte. 1 south in Lynnfield for 18 years.
But none of this could have come about without his willingness to teach others who wanted to learn to play piano. Patsy began his teaching career in high school—before he was drafted into the Army. Over time, he added eight students to his roster. The first prizes he won at the talent competitions helped him win his students. His mother, a naturally smart businesswoman, encouraged her son, referring to him as “smart and aggressive.”
“Would you believe that I ended up with 80 students? Eventually, I had to tell my mother enough was enough,” he said.
“Don’t get any more students for me,” I told her. “And she said, ‘Sonny, you might have nobody taking lessons from you next week.’ I loved her for being such a good public relations woman.”
Today, Patsy is quick to say that he loves it when someone stands over him to listen to his music.
For 16 years, Wakefield’s Piano Man also volunteered his musical prowess at the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center’s main campus in Burlington and patients and employees loved hearing him play, but that came to a halt when COVID-19 came onto the world stage.
“I was doing the hospital a favor but realize now how much I was doing myself a favor, too,” he commented.
As if all of this were not enough, Patsy played organ at Boston Garden (now TD Garden) for a Boston Bruins game. The owners wanted to sign him into a contract but he turned it down.
“I played for Mrs. Yawkey and the Red Sox organization many times at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Boston,” he said.
Patsy has over 400 songs stored in his memory, and all he has to do is reach into his brain to play them, start to finish.
“I go from one song to another without repeating,” he said.
Before continuing, Patsy paused to contemplate his musical accomplishments. “I think my old friend Jim Rizza, another Wakefield pianist extraordinaire, would agree that if you give of yourself, you get back twofold.”
Patsy and Sharon received more than twofold, as their children all have musical ability. Son Jeffrey graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and, in addition to teaching music online, he is a poet, songwriter, artist, recording engineer and musician.
Holly holds several degrees in music and performs publicly on a regular basis. She teaches music at Salem State University and Gordon College and enjoys working as a guide on a tour boat.
Son John has a degree in history and works for a utility company. He plays piano and enjoys baseball and golf.
Patsy also has three grandchildren:
Nicholas Pasquale Zagaria, Madeline Charlotte Zagaria and Rose Marie Conway, a singer.
In closing, Patsy gives a hearty thank you to the Daily Item for sharing his story and for his much-loved parents, brother Billy and, of course, the piano for allowing him to express himself in such a special way.
For Patsy, it truly has been a wonderful life, and he wants the people of Wakefield and beyond to know that they have his love.
Lifelong Wakefield resident Pasquale “Patsy” Zagaria has worked as a band leader, solo pianist and piano and organ teacher for 70 years. Find Patsy’s music on his playlist @WCAT Wakefield YouTube.