Marian "Cookie" Centofanti

AUSTINTOWN - Marian “Cookie” Centofanti, 80, passed away early Monday evening, Nov. 22, 2021, at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

Cookie was born Oct. 12, 1941, in Youngstown, a daughter adopted by the late Phillip and Phyllis Caruso Macri, and lived her life in this area.

She was a 1959 graduate of East High School, and graduated from the Berean School of the Bible. “Pastor Cookie” was a credentialed minister and served in two area churches. Later, she and her husband were devout members at Victory Christian Center in Coitsville Township.

Cookie met the love of her life, her high school sweetheart, Richard A. “Dick” Centofanti, at East High in 1954. On Dec. 4, 1959, Cookie and Dick married and for the next 60-plus years, were a loving and devoted husband and wife until Dick’s passing on Oct. 3, 2020.

Cookie truly loved helping people and counseling others, and ministered to many area families, specifically young people, throughout her lifetime. To her, family was everything, and she absolutely adored her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

Besides her love for her ministry, she enjoyed travel, going to the beach and to Niagara Falls, and teaching others how to make pasta.

Cookie leaves to cherish her memory three children, Lisa (Brad) Yergan of Canfield, Anthony (Karen) Centofanti of Boardman, and John (Lisa) Centofanti of Canfield; nine grandchildren, Michael (Kim), Joey (Kelly), Danny (Alisha), Marc (Tayler), Marisa (Luke), Gina, Dante, Victoria (Joshua), and Gianna (Giovanni); four great-grandchildren, Judah, Noah, Zachariah, and Rockie; and a brother, Phillip Macri of Girard.

Besides her husband, a grandson, Joshua Yergan, is deceased.

Family and friends may call from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Nov. 27, at Victory Christian Center, 3899 McCartney Rd., Coitsville, where a funeral service will follow at noon. Please observe all current social distancing guidelines and health protocols when paying respects to the family and attending the service.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Kinnick Funeral Home, 477 N. Meridian Rd., Youngstown.

Committal services will take place at a later date and will be at Green Haven Memorial Gardens, where Cookie will be laid to rest with her beloved husband.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.