Requiescat in Pace, Gene Vukelic ’48.

We mourn the loss of Vukelic, a local business titan who built his family’s small beer delivery business into a multi-million-dollar enterprise in Try-It Distributing Co., and who was a most pivotal and dedicated alumnus of CHS. He was 94.

"Gene was always just a phone call away whether for sage advice or support for a student in need,” said President Fr. David Ciancimino, S.J. “Gene was steadfast in faith and a devoted alumnus. He and his wife Carole are treasured friends to me, my Jesuit brothers, and Canisius High School."

Vukelic’s Class of 1948 was the first to attend CHS at two sites, starting at the original Washington Street campus before moving to 1180 Delaware Ave. for their junior and senior years. A Lackawanna native who grew up in Lake View, he continued his Jesuit education at Le Moyne in Syracuse and would enlist in the Marine Corps, serving with the Third Marine Division and attaining the rank of sergeant.

He joined his father and older brother Stephen G. at Try-It in 1961. He began as general manager and, after succeeding his father as president, built Try-It into the area’s largest beer distributor and one of the biggest in the state. Under his guidance, Try-It grew from 12 employees to more than 600. He remained chairman of Try-It after stepping aside as president in the 1990s.

At CHS, he was the first non-Jesuit to serve as the school’s Chair of the Board of Trustees and was awarded the school’s highest honor, the St. Peter Canisius Award. He was an early chair and ardent supporter of our GAMBIT fundraiser and was a member of our Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.

In a 2017 CHS Today magazine feature, Gene said his family incorporated the values instilled in them at Canisius into their business.

“If we want our employees to care about the company, we have to care. Be an exemplar. We learned that at Canisius,” Gene said. “We look at what we can do to improve the quality of the lives of our employees.

“What the Jesuits do for forming the minds, the character and the personas of the students is what stands out most for me about Canisius. You can see the characteristics – caring, doing the right thing, a good value system.”

In spring of 2023, he was honored at our Junior Leadership Mass with a CHS Diamond Diploma upon the 75th anniversary of his graduation.

“Gene is one of the school’s most dedicated alumni, a faithful ambassador of all things Canisius,” Ciancimino told the school community in Scaccia Auditorium that day.

He is survived by wife Carole – who he was married to 67 years – as well as sons Paul ’79 (president and CEO of Try-It), Tim ‘83, Jeffrey ’84, Peter ’89 and Matt ’94 and daughters Mary Ellen Sullivan and Suzanne Mahoney. Survivors also include 21 grandchildren (including Greg ’05, Chris ’09 and Jack ’21) and 21 great-grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Friday in Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica, 767 Ridge Road at South Park Avenue, Lackawanna.

#AMDG