Michael Albert Sabella, 79, died peacefully on July 26, 2023 after a long and hard-fought battle with cancer.
Mike grew up on the South Side of Chicago and later in suburban La Grange. He was a graduate of Lyons Township High School and later Central Missouri State University where he met the one true love of his life, Marilyn.
He had the desire to be an accountant since the age of 14 as “numbers always made sense” to him. After his service in the Army National Guard, when he was repeatedly deployed to ensure public safety during the tumultuous events of the late 1960s, he worked to become a CPA and started his first practice in Zion.
He spent the bulk of his career acting as a trusted advisor to many people in La Grange Park and the surrounding communities as well as partnering with the several small business clients whose companies he helped to grow with his strategic acumen, expertise and sage counsel.
His attempt at official retirement happened a few years ago when he sold his last business Sabella & Graham after a long and successful practice in Park Ridge. He was well-known for his thoroughness and integrity.
Public service and community support were always important passions of Mike’s and he donated his time in a variety of different capacities throughout his lifetime. He found his work as a trustee of the village of LaGrange Park to be among his most rewarding and followed that up as a Member of the La Grange Park Police Pension Board.
He truly loved his time serving on the board of Single Source, a local food distribution company, during which he met several of his closest confidants. Other meaningful leadership roles include treasurers of the Lake Ripley Management Board, Zion-Benton Township High School and the Italian-American War Veterans of Illinois.
Mike will be remembered as a warm and loyal soul, generous with his smile, his jokes, his time and his affable nature. He was dependable and strong, a loyal friend, brother, brother-in-law, devoted husband, father, PopPop, uncle, great-uncle and a trusted colleague and advisor to so many people in his life.
He loved playing golf, watching the White Sox and the Bears, being at Lake Ripley with his friends and family and tinkering in one of his garages. There was nothing he wouldn’t at least try to repair on his own.
Mike and Marilyn were to have celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary next week. His daughters have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of kindness and stories from so many people about what Mike meant to them. He will be sorely missed and leaves behind a legacy of warmth and generosity.
He was the husband of Marilyn Sue Sabella (nee Detweiler); a father to Susan (Jason) Kling and Elizabeth (Michael) Patti; grandfather of Jessica, Charles and Griffen Kling and Hudson, Makenna and Brooklyn Patti; brother of Albert (Marcia) Sabella, John (Susan) Sabella, Jane (Randy) Walkwitz and the late Patrick (the late Joan) Sabella; and an uncle to many nieces and nephews.
A funeral Mass was celebrated Aug. 1 St. Francis Xavier Church in LaGrange, followed by interment at Bronswood Cemetery in Oak Brook.
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made in Mike’s name to either The American Cancer Society, 1 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago, 60601 or The Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, 60603.
Hitzeman Funeral Home, Brookfield, handled arrangements.
Send sympathy cards to Hitzeman Funeral Home, 9445 31st St., Brookfield, 60513, c/o the Michael A. Sabella family.
