Thanks, Frank: After 46 years on the job, North Naples retiree gets special send-off party

The red and white jersey with "Maggio" on the back was retired and framed, just like sports teams do for famous departing athletes.

But Frank Maggio's claim to fame isn’t home runs, touchdowns or swishing a ball through a basket.

Instead, it’s his decades of putting his expertise into hundreds of homes around Southwest Florida.

Maggio, 80, just retired from Conditioned Air, where he worked for the past 46 years.

The framed jersey in his honor bears the number 46. He was a field construction manager who isn’t a fan of fancy work titles. 

While most people his age retire long before reaching age 80, Maggio said he was having too much fun to leave.

“I can honestly say when I went to work I had fun,” Maggio said. “I enjoyed myself.

"I thought at times of going into business for myself, but it doesn’t get any better than this. I probably could have gone somewhere and gotten more money, but I wouldn’t have had as much fun," he said. "I got to be 65, and I was enjoying what I was doing so I just stuck around.”

When he turned 80 years old in September, he decided that was the magic number for retirement, but he was still working on a big job in Port Royal and decided to stay a bit longer until it was done.

Theo Etzel, CEO of Conditioned Air, said Maggio helped him when he took over at the company in 1995.

“Frank has done so much for so many, but the greatest gift he ever gave me was hanging in there with this young guy, getting his feet on the ground at Conditioned Air and extending a helping hand to me," Etzel said. "He could have jumped ship but for an old Navy vet, that’s not Frank’s style,” 

Maggio was a great asset to the company, Etzel said.

"He is the happiest when he is creating and constructing and 'noodling' on a solution,” Etzel said. “Many of our clients are benefactors of his creative solutions to complex equipment layouts and requirements. Frank is a shining example of that, always looking out for the best way to address a situation so the client gets the full benefit of the system. One of Frank’s expressions he would tell me was that when somebody buys oats from you, you shouldn’t run them through the horse first. He is all about quality, and it showed in everything he did.”

Not everyone gets an elaborate retirement party, Etzel said, but Maggio earned it.

“Forty-six years is a really big deal,” Etzel said. “He’s just been such a huge part of the success of Conditioned Air. He has his fingerprints on hundreds and hundreds of buildings in Southwest Florida.”

“With all the accolades, I should have asked for more money,” Maggio teased.

As the more than 60 guests enjoyed hors d'oeuvres and brightly frosted cupcakes at Venue Naples, they chatted about their memories of Maggio.

Vito DiPalma, a superintendent at Conditioned Air, remembers Maggio helping him when his three kids missed the school bus on a rainy morning.

“Frank left me at the job and took them to school in his noisy diesel truck. My kids were so excited,” DiPalma said. “They are still talking about it to this day.”

Frank Maggio Jr. remembers being in awe of how well known his father was in the community.

When Frank Maggio Jr. was a student at Barron Collier High School, he got into a minor car accident on Orange Blossom Drive, he said.

“Everyone knew who I was because of my father. The tow truck people and the police they all said, ‘You’re Frank Maggio’s son.'"

Frank Maggio Sr. said he has few plans for his retirement. At age 80, he still wants to avoid a life of all play and no work.

“My son has a welding business, so I will help him out,” he said. “I am learning how to play pickleball. So I will be playing some pickleball.”