WAUKESHA 鈥 Jake Zappa, 34, of SM天地论坛 is being remembered for his kindness and support of local theater and the community.
Zappa, an employee at Pizza Ranch and board member at Outskirts Theatre Co. died on Monday morning following an accident outside the Burlington Pizza Ranch.
Ryan Rehak worked at SM天地论坛 Civic Theatre when he met Zappa. Rehak said his friend was a husband and father. He reached out to SM天地论坛 Pizza Ranch, seeking pizza donations for a summer kids鈥 program, and Zappa immediately invited Rehak to talk.
"He鈥檚 just such a friendly and nice, charismatic guy. We talked for like an hour, and he was telling me all about how he had done theater growing up and was super involved in choir, and in the church choir, and how he really missed all that kind of stuff,鈥 said Rehak. 鈥淪o he was excited to help us.鈥
Zappa became an avid supporter of Civic Theatre, and as Rehak鈥檚 own company, Outskirts Theatre Co., grew, Zappa jumped in.
鈥淔or the last two years, he鈥檚 been on our board and been a big supporter of all of our shows and brought in ideas and energy,鈥 Rehak shared. Zappa鈥檚 generosity extended beyond the theaters; he also partnered with Make-A-Wish, coordinating wish reveal parties.
鈥淗e was helping coordinate a wish for a young girl; her dream was to own a boat,鈥 Rehak said. 鈥淗e was like, 鈥業 want to get actors that are sailors and build a set and all this stuff,鈥 so he got us into that. We a few times now ...have worked with him to put together these Make-A-Wish events.鈥
His theater teacher at St. Joseph High School in Kenosha, Katie Cummings, also spoke about Zappa鈥檚 love of theater and caring nature. She said he was one of those students who just 鈥渨iggled his way right into your heart.鈥
鈥淚 knew him when he was young, and have been seeing him in and out since he graduated high school,鈥 she said. 鈥(He) was a hard worker and loved everything musical theater that he could possibly get his hands on when he was growing up.鈥
She was glad to see him, like many students, get involved in community theater after graduating.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always nice to see ... their creativity reinvigorate. That playfulness that you get growing up in theater, I think some of the things that were evident as Jake was an adult is that playfulness was still there and resparked,鈥 Cummings said.
The Burlington Pizza Ranch identified Zappa as the man who was involved in the accident on Monday, sharing that he was a member of their grassroots marketing team and a beloved member of the Pizza Ranch family. While manager of the SM天地论坛 Pizza Ranch, Zappa accepted an award on behalf of his team at a national company conference for his restaurant鈥檚 response to the SM天地论坛 Christmas Parade tragedy. The team organized food deliveries to on-scene emergency personnel and vigil attendees. The SM天地论坛 store also hosted ongoing fundraisers for victims of the tragedy.
鈥淗e was such a special, well-rounded person, and made such a huge impact on Outskirts,鈥 said Rehak. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a horrible and tragic loss ... Post-anything, you look at the community. You know, post the Christmas parade, the way that he jumped in, through Pizza Ranch and just his own generosity, to help people.鈥
鈥淔rom the moment I met him, I knew that he was a kind, caring human being. It鈥檚 awful that he is gone as young as he is. He was kind and generous and creative,鈥 shared Cummings.
Zappa's family has set up to help support Jake's wife, Heather, and their four children.
