Obituary of B. Joseph Cacchillo

Joseph (Joey) Cacchillo, 77, a resident of Pine Ridge in Saratoga Springs, went home to be with the Lord on Friday, December 24, 2021 at Saratoga Hospital. Born January 30, 1944 in Schenectady New York he was the son of the late Joseph and Mildred Cacchillo. Joey attended Bishop Gibbons high school in Schenectady New York and Siena College in Loudonville, New York. He served his country in the United States Army at the DMZ in Korea. In 1967, Joey married Susan Reni of Ballston Spa, New York, and started a career in automobile sales working with his father (Joseph Cacchillo) at Salisbury Chevrolet in Scotia, New York. He subsequently opened a custom automotive paint shop in Scotia, New York. Through his contacts there, he found his way into the wholesale automobile business with Condor Trading company. He stayed in that position for a number of years and eventually moved to work with Steven Lofgren at Krystal Motors where he finished out with over 54+ years in the car business. Joey was “bitten by the love of all things cars“ in 1956…and it never let him go. He was the ultimate “car guy’s, car guy“. He fell in love with his first car, a 1936 Chevy Coupe and proceeded to apply the same number of coats of black lacquer (36) to it until you could literally shave in the reflection of the doors. Throughout his lifetime cars were his oxygen, and the people that he met in the automotive universe he adopted as his extended family. For those 54+ years Joey loved what he did and loved the people that were his family in the automotive business. Joey’s greatest skill (even though he literally sold over a few thousand cars) was actually building relationships with people at most any car dealership he would visit. People from the sales staff and front office, to the parts department and the management team would literally yell out “hey Joey“ as he made his way through the show rooms. It seemed as if he knew everyone. Joey attended car auctions at least twice per week, every week. Those events were the equivalent of a reunion as he greeted his old friends as they all did business together. Joey second love was… Cleaning cars! Some other things too, but mostly cars. He loved to laugh, and always had a funny story with him so others could share that laughter wherever he went. Once he confessed that he thought he might’ve been a janitor in another life. Each week, he drove everywhere. He knew more back roads in upstate New York and Vermont than the people that actually prepared the maps of those back roads. Joey didn’t understand the term “vacation“, as he so enjoyed the “chase” toward his next great buy. You might occasionally catch him with a fishing pole in his hand, but that was the exception rather than the norm. In 1991, Joey married his absolute best friend in the whole world, Nicki Pallotta. They got to share almost seven great years together before the good Lord called Nicki home. He missed her terribly for the rest of his life and proceeded to dive deeper into his love of cars. Joey counted himself extremely blessed to have found a career that he loved so much. From his perspective what he did each day wasn’t “work”, it was life. He embraced the spectacular beauty of the great Northeast, the freedom of not sitting behind a desk and the friendship of all the people that he worked with every day. He truly lived his life on his own terms,and enjoyed every minute of it. In addition to his parents, Joey was predeceased by his wife Nicki Pallotta (Greisler). Survivors include his brother Michael (Rita) Cacchillo of Boise Idaho, and their daughters, Dr. Jenna Cacchillo and Natalie Cacchillo also of Boise Idaho. In addition, he had two stepsons, Michael Greisler of Hillsdale, New Jersey and Peter Greisler, of Schenectady New York. A memorial celebration is being planned for late Spring/Summer of 2022 in the Saratoga Springs New York area. Dates and times will be announced on this website and other parallel sites.