Mike Alagna
Mike Alagna of Hoffman Estates wanted his own life experience to show young people a proficiency in academia wasn’t the only path to success in business and personal fulfillment.
The longtime chief operating officer of Nation Pizza and Foods in Schaumburg was also a dedicated member of the Schaumburg Business Association and an architect of Harper College’s Advanced Manufacturing program and its Harper Promise scholarship program with Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211.
Alagna died Saturday at 80 years old, leaving stunned family and friends grateful for his presence in their lives.
“He’s a special guy,” former Harper College president Ken Ender said. “You don’t find a lot of Mike Alagnas in the world. If he’s your friend, he’s your friend for life.”
“Michael was one of the most precious friends I’ve had,” added Daryl Saylor, owner of the two Chick-fil-A restaurants in Schaumburg.
Mike’s wife Kathy said the Chicago native with five siblings wanted to pass on the importance of hard work and perseverance to other “scrappy C students” like himself. The proud Lane Tech graduate was tempted to drop out of his own senior year at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the 1960s but received encouragement not to.
“It was meant for him to finish his degree in accounting,” she said.
That led to his first job at Jewel, which was famous for spinning off other companies. He was assigned to and eventually led Preferred Meals in Elk Grove Village that made school meals.
In 1990 he was offered a leadership post at a small startup, Nation Pizza and Foods, to similarly mass produce in DeKalb County before relocating to Schaumburg.
“There was a lot of angst,” Kathy said. “It didn’t really have a track record. He grew the business. He loved it!”
Kathy meanwhile took a clerical job with District 211 that helped forge Mike’s later relationship with local educational efforts.
Ender said both the Harper Promise program, to earn college tuition while in high school, and the Advanced Manufacturing program emphasized that dedication and seriousness were required even of students who saw different paths for themselves.
Much of that came from Mike, he added.
Kathy said another of his great loves was the Schaumburg Business Association. Its founding president Laurie Stone got Mike involved, leading to his own strong encouragement of smaller businesses to see the benefits.
As well as having been board chairman at one point, Mike was named member of the year in 2013 and volunteer of the year in 2015.
It was through the SBA that Saylor and his wife Mary Beth became good friends of his.
“He had a way of bringing people in, and you don’t know you’re being brought in to really accomplish things,” Mary Beth said. “Mike led SBA by his example.”
Despite all his civic and professional commitments, family was even more important, his wife said.
Visitation is 3-9 p.m. Wednesday at Ahlgrim & Sons Funeral and Cremation Services, 330 W. Golf Road, Schaumburg. A funeral Mass is at 10 a.m. Thursday at Holy Family Catholic Community, 2515 W. Palatine Road, Inverness.
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