Frank J. DeLuca

Frank J. DeLuca

Supporting the community of Ocala, Florida

Education

Frank DeLuca and DeLuca Toyota support education in many ways. In today’s economy, education is more critical than ever. Business leaders have an important role to play in the community, by supporting education and lending a hand where possible.

Central Florida Community College (CFCC)

  • Scholarship Sponsor
  • Sponsor Taste of Ocala
  • Founded the “Carole DeLuca Perpetual Memorial Scholarship”
  • Member of the President’s Community Council (2007-2009)

Trinity Catholic High School

  • Active in Trinity Catholic High School and heavily endowed the Media Center. In doing so Frank DeLuca has perpetuated the faith legacy of his dear wife for all generations of teens. The Media Center at Trinity Catholic is named after Carole DeLuca.

University of Florida

  • Scholarship Club Associate

Marion Technical Institute (MTI)

  • Frank J. DeLuca and DeLuca Toyota partner with MTI and sponsor internships

 

Jan 31

DeLuca History with CF

Frank and the DeLuca family have been supportive of the college for decades now. He has been a sponsor of the College of Central Florida (CF) Foundation’s successful scholarship fundraiser Taste of Ocala for nearly 15 years and also its Dinner Theater series, which raises much needed funds for the Promise for the Future Fund.

Frank has supported the President’s Community Council at CF since its inception. This group of community leaders is given an inside look at issues facing the college and the community it serves. The council is invited to meaningful discussions regarding the college’s role in the growing Central Florida region.

Along with supporting college events and the foundation’s first major gifts campaign insignificant ways, Frank has made additional contributions to directly and personally support scholarships at the college. He makes a considerate effort to annually contribute to those scholarships that have been established in honor of friends and loved ones.

Frank made a strong statement about the DeLuca family’s belief in the importance of education when he established the Carole A. DeLuca Endowed Memorial Scholarship in 2006 after the pasting of his late wife Carole.

Frank DeLuca is truly a dear friend and neighbor to the college.

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Jan 20

DeLuca Toyota sponsor’s Marion Technical Institute internships

May 30, 2008, excerpt from Ocala Style Magazine, by Pete Tesch

Spring is here and graduation time is upon us. Last year, I had the honor of addressing the graduat-ing class at Marion Technical Institute. Bolstered by the optimism of youth and a good chance to get ahead, those students already had a head start on their peers with education and work experience.

Some of Marion County’s finest firms participate in MTI and have sponsored several internships: Lockheed Martin, MASCO Builder Cabinet Group, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, Emergency-One, DeLuca Toyota, Ford of Ocala, and MRMC, to name a few. In the packed auditorium, there was genuine ex-citement and revelry for the graduates’ participation in MTI and their working experiences. This, in my opinion, is the very core of the classroom-workplace connection.

Reproduced from Ocala Style Magazine: link

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Dec 23

Carole DeLuca Media Center Building at Trinity Catholic High School

May 16, 2007

OCALA – Local businessman Frank DeLuca gets emotional when he talks about his late wife, Carole, who died in 2006.

“She wasn’t just my wife, she was my best friend,” he said through tears.

Now the philanthropist is spending his life, and his fortune, preserving her legacy by supporting the causes that were near to her heart.

Tuesday morning, the Carole DeLuca Media Center was dedicated at Trinity Catholic High School, a school that the DeLuca family has backed since its inception in 2001.

“We’ve been members of Blessed Trinity for 28 years,” said DeLuca, who owns DeLuca Toyota in Ocala. “Carole always supported education.”

DeLuca provided the funding for the school’s media center, which has two computer laboratories and serves as a satellite campus for St. Leo University. The media center houses a library of written media used for daily research, and DeLuca said a fully equipped television production studio is in development.

“The memorial 100 percent stands for Carole DeLuca and what she represented,” said the Rev. Patrick Sheedy of Blessed Trinity Catholic Church. “We’re very proud of the media center and its technology.”

In addition to the media center, Frank DeLuca has financially supported many other endeavors and organizations in honor of his wife, including the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women campaign, the Marion Theatre, and the Historic Ocala Preservation Society. He also rented a billboard on State Road 200 for a couple of months that displayed her picture and an in-memoriam message.

“She was just a giver,” he said.

DeLuca said he and Carole were high school sweethearts in Orlando before moving to Ocala in 1978. They were married for 39 years and had two children and five grandchildren.

“She was a competitive roller skater,” he said. “She was a dynamic, bubbly personality that could light up a room like a ray of sunshine.”

Carole, who had a heart condition, died unexpectedly during a family ski trip in Vail, Colo., after her son was involved in a serious accident on the slopes. He has since recovered.

“It’s a huge void. It’s been very difficult because we were so close,” DeLuca said.

Since her passing, DeLuca also has established the Carole DeLuca Memorial Scholarship Fund at Central Florida Community College. The fund especially supports students interested in the arts and horticulture.

“The community has always done a lot for me and my family, and this is my way of giving back,” DeLuca said. “Carole and I were a team, and this is a way to keep her memory alive.”

Reproduced by permission of the Ocala Star Banner. Article link.

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Dec 7

Alive In Christ Campaign

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Lou Holtz and Frank DeLuca

The Blessed Trinity Church does many wonderful things in our community. In May of 2009 I was fortunate to join a small gathering and meet the legendary Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz. His words were inspiring as always. The meeting was to support the Diocese of Orlando’s “Alive in Christ” campaign. The campaign has many goals, and among them is raising money for Catholic education.

In Ocala, the targets are helping Trinity Catholic High School retire its debt, supporting a Spanish mission in west Marion, and financing a new elementary school west of Ocala.

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