Local businessman inspired friends, family

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To the editor:

I’d like to start by saying my father wouldn’t like to hear everyone saying he will be “resting” in peace. He never liked to sit around. He will be living in peace through every life he touched; his unbelievably strong wife, children, Mozzi’s employees, Mozzi’s customers, family members, and just about everyone else in Hancock County.

Mark Lee is leaving a legacy. There is no doubt in my mind there are hundreds of people who saw Mark Lee as the man they wanted to grow up to be. I couldn’t go out in public without being stopped and asked if I was a Lee.

We couldn’t go to a family dinner without having a conversation with three or four people my dad knew. I walked into the Hancock Wellness Center each day and was asked, “Are you Mark’s daughter?” After the undeniable “yes,” faces lit up in delight, handshakes were exchanged, and each time, all I thought was how much of an impact my dad had on everyone.

And he never accepted that what he had done was enough. Mozzi’s, a booming pizza place in Greenfield, never stayed untouched. From the “name game” to pizza of the month, he was always trying to delight the customers from all angles.

He built the fieldhouse addition on to the restaurant nearly on his own to make more room for parties and gatherings that involved pizza. The man couldn’t sit still. Two weeks prior to his passing were just about two of the busiest weeks at the West Main Street Mozzi’s location. And I hope to beat those two weeks soon.

Aside from Mozzi’s, my father was the biggest family man to not only me and my brothers but also to the children of Mozzi’s employees and distant cousins. He was the best at tickling; he had the best funny faces, and he could play Pokémon or with a princess dollhouse all day long.

But as we grew up, he was also like a friend. He heard about our relationship problems and school troubles. He talked us through them as if they were his own problems.

My father had the mind of a 25-year-old, and he never let that go. He never once thought about slowing down. He always said he couldn’t imagine growing old. He got annoyed at the fact he had to put glasses on to read the newspaper, and his elbow started to bother him from working out too much, which just completely ticked him off.

I couldn’t imagine him as an old man, and I never will. His body couldn’t keep up with his young mind, the mind that never wanted to rest.

I hope so many people who have been inspired take a lot from this tragedy and are inspired to do as much as Mark Lee did in his short 56 years.

His legacy and life will be carried on through the hundreds of people he inspired, and I can’t wait to make him a proud father. 

Maddie Lee

Greenfield