Cape mourns loss of Marchi: servant, leader, friend

Cape Girardeau lost a wonderful soul last week when Dennis Marchi died at the age of 68.

He was known for his generosity and community spirit.

In addition to spending 30 years as the manager of Cape Girardeau's Schnucks, he had served on the boards of the United Way, Community Caring Council, the local American Red Cross chapter, Southeast Missouri State University Marketing Department, Saint Francis Medical Center, the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce and the Salvation Army. That's just a partial list.

Marchi won the Rush H. Limbaugh Award in 1999. That's the top honor awarded by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.

"He was an amazing person," Chamber president and CEO John Mehner said. "He was a stalwart of the community, would give anyone the shirt off his back. He was always involved in helping people out."

Dennis Marchi, according to a recent story by Marybeth Niederkorn and previous reporting, began his career as a bagger at Bettendorf in the St. Louis area, three years before Schnucks bought the chain. He worked his way up before landing in Cape Girardeau.

He attained a bachelor's degree from Saint Louis University and a master's at Webster University.

Marchi was a great man, a wonderful person who did so much for Cape Girardeau. We will miss him, and we offer our prayers and condolences to his wife, Kathy, and family.