Obituary of Mario Zamparelli

Mario Armond Zamparelli, born June 4, 1921 in New York passed away in on Saturday, Sept 8, 2012. Zamparelli lived in both La Canada- Flintridge and San Marino, Ca. Mr. Zamparelli had distinguished and luminous career as both an artist and corporate marketing genius to many of America’s major corporations. He was most well known as holding the title of Chief Executive Designer to billionaire Howard Hughes. Mr. Zamparelli is in the Who's Who in the American West and Who's Who in American Art. Mario Armond Zamparelli was an American Artist and Designer, best known for his work creating the corporate image of every Hughes’ holding. For 18 years, Zamparelli was Chief Executive Designer of Hughes' empire and created the corporate identity of TWA, Hughes Airwest, Hughes Helicopters, Hughes Aircraft, Hughes Aviation, the Summa Corporation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and was the artist for Hughes’ RKO Studios. He created each and every detail of Hughes’ vast holdings such as the legendary Frontier Hotel, the Dessert Inn, the Sands, and the Tropicana, among other Hughes' hotels, casinos and other property holdings. He was also responsible for the only portrait of Howard Hughes in existence commissioned by the billionaire himself. Mr. Zamparelli is also responsible for many of the iconic corporate design identities such as TWA, Nissan, Midway Airlines, Capital Records, Hunts Foods, Union Bank, Universal Pictures, Southern California Gas Company, Kimberly Clark, Mattel, Max Factor, Suzuki and The Norton Simon Corporation, among many others. He also designed the ground-breaking concept "Home of the Future" for Disney. The BBC documentary featuring Mr. Zamparelli won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe Award for "Best Documentary" for a 4-hour documentary created as "Hollywood Golden Years". At a young age it was realized that Zamparelli was a genius. An extraordinary talent in art, he started his career working in illustration for such magazines as Cosmopolitan,Vogue, Esquire and Harpers Bazaar until he was personally selected by Howard Hughes as his artist for his multi-billion dollar empire. He was a fine artist, writer, avid photographer and musician. As a World War II Army veteran, he played in an Army band with the legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck. He was also a poet, an avid art collector and art teacher and was truly respected artist among his peers in the art world. He has left behind a massive collection of both his corporate works and paintings which will be donated to a museum and also sold at auction, per his wishes. He also leaves behind a yet to be published book on his life and times with Howard Hughes, titled Enigma,[ a new account of the controversial lifestyle of Howard Hughes which his daughters will publish. Mr. Zamparelli is survived by his wife Maureen Hingert -Zamparelli, his three daughters, Gina, Marisa and Andrea Zamparelli and two brothers, Robert and Victor Zamparelli. A Memorial Service will be held on day, Saturday, Sept 22 at 9:00am at Holy Redeemer Church in Montrose, Ca. The public is invited.