TV producer Sakowicz dies

Rewriting a lyric from his signature song, Tony Orlando said hard-working Las Vegas producer/director Gina Sakowicz is "coming home, she's done her time."

The variation of the opening line from his 1973 No. 1 hit "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Old Oak Tree" was a metaphor for heaven's destiny after life's challenges, which Orlando shared with 350 mourners Monday at St. Bartholomew's Church in Chicago.

"(I have) lost a real pal," said Orlando, who had flown that morning from Branson, Mo., where he currently is performing, to Illinois specifically to attend Sakowicz's funeral.

Not initially scheduled to deliver a eulogy, Orlando gave a short and moving off-the-cuff tribute. He talked of Gina's kindness, noting that after his mother, Ruth Schroeder, underwent heart bypass surgery, Gina was at her bedside during her recovery.

Rose T. "Gina" Sakowicz, who for three decades in Las Vegas and Chicago produced and directed television and radio shows hosted by her husband, Sig Sakowicz, died Thursday at Valley Hospital, where she had been taken after suffering an apparent heart attack while grocery shopping. She was 67.

"She was always on the go," Sakowicz, who does a daily entertainment report on KNUU 970-AM and a Saturday report on WPNA radio in Chicago, said via a telephone interview after the services.

"We had been out five straight nights and we were scheduled to see Kenny Rogers (last) Friday at the Flamingo (Hilton) and Pat Cooper Saturday at Boulder Station. We also were going to go to Primm on Sunday and Mesquite this week. I kept telling her to slow down, but she was not the kind of person to slow down."

On the night before she died, Gina visited Orlando's mother, who lives in Las Vegas.

"She came by to show me some photos from the places she had been recently -- I'm going to miss her dearly," Schroeder said. "She was a friend for more than 20 years. She was just a great person to be around."

Rana Goodman, a former talent show producer who now runs a local sign and graphics company, also said Gina was kind-hearted and giving.

"I fell in love with Gina and Sig when I first met them 22 years ago -- there was an instant bond." she said. "Gina loved animals. It was her dream to one day buy a large piece of land, empty the local dog pounds and create a sanctuary for unwanted pets. She was so warm and friendly."

Edward Moskal, president of the Polish American Congress, told the mourners that Sig will miss Gina's strength. Sig agreed, saying he has relied greatly on his wife throughout most of his career.

They married in 1969 when she was an aspiring singer and he was a show producer. He took her with him to Vietnam that year where she entertained troops in shows he produced.

She was born Rose Benedia on Sept. 28, 1930, in Chicago, the only child of Dr. Carrie Benedia and her husband, Louis Benedia, who owned several Chicago pharmacies.

Gina got her nickname from Sig, who disliked her given name, saying: "I thought she looked like Gina Lollobrigida, so I called her Gina from then on. She liked it."

Gina graduated from Chicago's Austin High School and Rosary College, where she had studied to become a doctor like her mother. But the call of show business was stronger than that of medicine.

For many years, Gina and Sig covered numerous major entertainment industry events, including the Academy Awards in Southern California.

The couple moved to Las Vegas in 1972, where for many years she produced the "Sig Sakowicz Superstar" show on two local TV stations. She also produced Sig's "Vegas Hot Line" radio show that was syndicated to several U.S. cities.

The couple returned to Chicago in 1985, where she produced Sig's celebrity cooking TV show. Possessing a good eye for talent, Gina booked a lot of up-and-coming personalities on the shows. She also wrote news releases and some of the programs.

And Gina was a trend-setter. In the early 1970s, she began wearing large bamboo-framed sunglasses, which became a short-lived fashion rage. Celebrities including Ann-Margret and Liza Minnelli asked Gina where she got the unusual glasses and started wearing similar design eyeware for a brief time.

For Gina, however, those glasses never went out of style. They became her trademark, as did her distinctive jewelry, including a large wedding ring with a big "G" on it, a huge gold bangle bracelet and a choker necklace. Her friends say she would never leave the house unless she was wearing those pieces.

The couple returned to Las Vegas in October 1996 after Gina insisted that there was more entertainment action in Las Vegas than in Chicago. In the last year, however, she developed heart and thyroid conditions, Sig said.

A local memorial service for the Las Vegas resident of 15 years is pending.

In addition to her husband, Gina Sakowicz is survived by a daughter, Christine Samaan; an uncle, Vince "Buck" Taglia; and three cousins, James Taglia, Tommy Taglia and Michael Kutza, all of Chicago.

DONATIONS: In Gina Sakowicz's memory to the Polish American Congress Children's Hospital Fund, 6100 N. Cicero Ave., Chicago, IL 60646.

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