James Michael Perzan “Jimmy”, the man with the laugh you could never forget, left us to laugh on our own on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.  “Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody” was his motto.  No matter where he went, he always met someone he knew which was often followed by an endless, heartfelt conversation full of laughter and stories. 

Jimmy and his wife, Lisa, loved life, enjoyed sports, travelling, concerts, family, and friends.  He loved and cherished his wife and his large extended family.  He was a lifelong golfer who learned to golf from his father at the age of 10 and continued the love of the game until his last days.  He golfed at courses across the country and around the world and could remember every shot, every club, and every hole.  He engaged in endless conversations about Bandon Dunes, Cabo, Scotland, Ireland, Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Merion and too many other courses to remember.  It was inevitable that he would meet new friends on the course that sometimes turned into lifelong friendships.  Somehow, he also found time to ski in the mountains of Colorado every winter.  As a young man he golfed, played ice hockey, water skied, snow skied, played football and baseball.

He still managed to prioritize school and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston College.  He had many successful careers throughout the years including accounting, sales, sales management, real-estate, home building and spent the last 20+ years as a financial advisor.

Jimmy and his wife, Lisa, met as young people in their 20’s.  She fell in love with a man who helped people without singing his own praises.  When other people turned their back, he opened his arms.  We have heard countless stories after his passing from people sharing what he did for them.  His wife was not a sports fan when they met, nor did she know anything about golf, but in the later years she could keep up with him.   

Family was a very important part of his life.  He had a large extended family including 17 aunts and uncles, 23 first cousins and many more second and third cousins. He leaves his wife of 31 years Lisa, nieces Stacey, Jennifer, Lilly and nephew Zachary, great nephew Mitch and great niece Hazel, father-in-law Vincent, sisters in-law Nancy and Eva as well as the rest of his large extended family. In addition, he leaves the many, many friends including his childhood friends that were like brothers to him. He was preceded in death by his father Mitchell Sr, mother Dorothy and brother Mitchell Jr. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will be Wednesday, (March 16), 10:00 am at the Church of St. Timothy, 1116 N Main St, West Hartford, CT.  Everyone is requested to meet at the Church.  Burial will follow in Fairview Cemetery, West Hartford.  Calling hours are Tuesday, (March 15), from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Sheehan Hilborn Breen Funeral Home, 1084 New Britain Ave., West Hartford.

Donations in his memory may be made to the First Tee https://firsttee.org/ or your favorite charity.  Online condolences may be made at www.SheehanHilbornBreen.com