Obituary of Joseph Fedele Iacovo

Joseph Fedele Iacovo

Joseph Fedele Iacovo, 92, of Bluffton, SC passed away March 23, 2024.  He was born in Clifton, NJ on February 18, 1932 to Joseph and Nelda (Pepe) Iacovo.

Joe is survived by his wife Francine, three children, eight grandchildren, two stepchildren and four step-grandchildren.  He was preceded in death by his son.

Joseph retired 30 plus years ago but continued to be active in several ventures including managing real estate investments which lead him into commercial real estate.  He retired as a commercial broker in 1998 providing only occasional consulting services for past clients.  In 1995 Joseph and his soon to be beloved wife created X-press-O International Inc., an espresso coffee drive thru business.

Joe holds a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from Indiana Institute of Technology, Fort Wayne, Indiana.  After college he worked for North American Aviation, Columbus, Ohio, specializing in stress analysis and structural testing of aircraft component parts and full-scale testing to destruction of entire aircraft.  Subsequently he joined Curtis Wright Corporation, Caldwell, N.J., where he was sent on special assignments for testing of jet engine components.

Having achieved the position of Assistant Project Engineer, Joe left the aviation field to become a Sales Engineer in Northern New Jersey working for Nuclear Chicago Corporation.  As a Sales Engineer he sold electronic equipment for the detection of radioactive materials.  As the company grew so did Joe.  He opened the company’s first branch office in Rochester, N.Y. and chose to specialize in the field of Nuclear Medicine.  While running the Rochester office, he was selling to hospitals, universities and research labs in Upstate N.Y. and all of the New England states.

After two years as Branch Manager, Joe was promoted to Regional manager in charge of seven mid-west states for what had by then become Searle Radiographics, a wholly owned subsidiary of G.D. Searle.  In his second year Joe was awarded Regional Manager of the Year followed by a promotion to National Sales Training Manager for both Searle Radiographics and Searle Analytic.  About another two years later he was promoted to Director of Corporate Communications for both subsidiaries and was responsible for the overall operations, performance and budget of the departments of Public Relations, Professional Education, Sales Training and Advertising.

In the early ‘70s Joe invested in real estate limited partnerships and eventually left corporate life to become the General Partner of a very troubled limited partnership.  Investors wanted to sell immediately as they were close to losing 2.1 million equity dollars and were willing to cut their losses in half and try to save $1,000,000.  Instead Joe implemented his own plan to save the investment.  He managed the entire operations of 492 apartments in 15 buildings on 32 acres of land in Arlington Heights, IL.  Five and one half years later he sold the property and returned to the limited partners $4.5 million.

The investors wanted Joe to find and manage more real estate for them.  Having become a registered real estate broker, he started Golden Touch Property Management, Inc., an Illinois corporation since 1979.  As President/Owner, he engaged in the business of commercial real estate, investment analysis, acquisitions, IRS Section 1031 exchanges and property management.  In 1981 Joe founded the Investor Participation Securities Company, (IPSCO), which was accepted as a registered National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) member firm.

Joseph earned two professional designations thru the National Association of Realtors: Certified Property Manager (CPM) in 1978 and in 1984, after completing all of the courses, reports and other rigorous performance requirements of the National Marketing Institute he received the prestigious professional designation as a Certified Commercial Investment Member, (CCIM).  As a successful “Buyer’s Broker”, Joseph was a highly sought guest speaker on related topics at the Chicago Association of Realtors Commercial Investment Form and the Chicago Area Real Estate Exchangers, among others.

He was a member of several local and national professional organizations and over the years was elected to and did serve on the board of directors of the Illinois Chapter of CCIM, the Real Estate Securities and Syndication Institute, the Northwest Association of Realtors and the Chicago Area Real Estate Exchangers.

The funeral service will be held Friday, March 29 at 1 PM at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 3080 Okatie Highway (Highway 170), Bluffton, SC, 29910.  Burial service will take place immediately after at St. Luke’s Cemetery (behind the church).

Donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at www.stjude.org.