Joseph "Joe" Pileggi was born January 22, 1969, to John and Anita Pileggi. He passed away unexpectedly at his home on January 10, 2025, just days shy of his 56th birthday, with his wife of 32 years, Michelle, by his side as well as his daughter and only child, Megan.

Joe was the oldest child of four, with two brothers (Frank and Phil) and one sister (Maria). He has numerous nieces and nephews, and many cousins.

Joe graduated from Grandview High School in 1987. He remained lifelong friends with many of his high school classmates including Joseph M. Booth, Jr., his best friend who preceded him in death and his wife Lori Booth, James Godfrey and numerous others. He also kept in touch with so many relatives that he grew up with including his cousin Annamaria Pileggi & Opal Andrews, of St. Louis, MO, who remained very special to him throughout his life.

Joe, who was a butcher of 30 years, worked at Cosentino's Brookside Price Chopper. There were certainly indications at a young age that Joe was destined to be a butcher as he was pictured as a young boy proudly holding up a raw chicken leg quarter at a family picnic. After years of butchering, he acquired the nickname "Popeye," due to his large forearms. As a butcher, Joe was "old school" and able to do cuts and creations like TurDuckIns that he would stitch together for special holiday dinners.

Joe had a special relationship with his maternal grandfather, Frank "Chico" Scimeca. They liked to sit and talk about the grocery business and the meat business. While Joe enjoyed the family sausage and meatballs, he delighted in making his own special recipe meatballs at home, which included his home-grown basil. However, this was secondary compared to Joe's special recipe Chicken Spiedini. His spiedini, which took two full days to make, were always the requested item for birthday dinners at Joe's house. He would always specially select the chicken breast pieces that he wanted to marinate and use for his spiedini. You always knew when there was a birthday dinner coming up at Joe's house because all of his refrigerators would be full of chicken marinating in Joe's special chicken spiedini sauce.

Joe loved to watch sports including football and soccer. He also could never pass up an episode of The Price is Right when it was on! He usually watched with a plate of food in his lap and his dog sitting next to him trying to steal his food. They often ate nachos, taquitos, steakburgers, chicken nuggets, and shared each dish. Joe had shared his life with several adopted rescue greyhounds through the years including Candy, Tess, Hudson, and currently Penny, who will miss her couch buddy so much.

Joe was preceded in death by his many Italian immigrant ancestors including Giovanni "John" Pileggi and wife Mary "Naan" Saluzzi Pileggi, Joe's maternal grandparents Frank "Chico" Scimeca and his first wife Antoinette Oliver Scimeca (and second wife Kathy McCallion Scimeca), Antoinette's sister Lena Oliver Shortino and her husband Vincent Shortino, his paternal aunt Shelley Pileggi, his paternal grandparents and namesake Joseph Francis Pileggi and Charlsie Cleo Mantle Pileggi and so many others.

At Joe's request, there will be no visitation or formal services. We encourage donations to KCREGAP (Kansas City Retired Greyhounds as Pets) or the American Heart Association in Joe's memory.