During a visit to the Jersey Shore in 1963, Frank met the love of his life, Patricia Ann Cuccolo. They married two years later and settled in Port Reading, NJ shortly after the birth of their first daughter Lisa in 1967. Frank Jr. followed in 1971, and second daughter Andrea completed the family of five in 1973.

Frank used the discipline he learned in the military and in law enforcement to make a better life for his family. He attended night school for 11 years to earn his law degree graduating with his Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School in 1982. He eventually retired from the State Police to work for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office for several years before moving to New Port Richey in 1995.

An active retiree, Frank enjoyed playing softball, golfing, lifting weights, and riding his bicycle. Sadly, one fateful Saturday morning in February of 2008, as he finished a 40-mile bike ride, his life was forever changed. Braking to avoid a child sitting on the trail, Frank flew over his handlebars and in an instant suffered a spinal cord injury that left him a quadriplegic. As with every challenge he ever encountered, he faced his injury with determination and worked hard to fulfill his dream of walking again.

He lived 18 years post-injury attending the weddings of both his son and daughter and experiencing the birth of his four beloved grandchildren even flying to California to visit his first grandchild in 2011.  With Pat always by his side, he also joined the choir at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in New Port Richey spending close to 12 years with the worship team.

Frank is survived by his wife Patricia Montagna; his three children, Lisa Montagna, Frank Jr. and his wife, Marion and Andrea and her husband, Christopher Russo and his four grandchildren, Leo and Marlowe Montagna and Henry and Luca Russo as well as many treasured nieces and nephews.

A funeral mass for Frank will be held on Friday, February 20 at 11 a.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church located at 8320 Old County Road 54 in New Port Richey. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital or Shriners Hospitals for Children.