Anthony Craig Difazio

Anthony Craig Difazio, of Gastonia, NC, passed away June 9, 2024, at CaroMont Regional Medical Center. He was born September 6, 1984, in New Hampshire, and lived in Florida and North Carolina. He is survived by his mother, Sally Difazio and his brother, RJ. He was a loving brother and son, taking care of his family after his father passed away. He worked at Byers Engineering and loved to play golf and shoot guns. However, that is not how he would want you to remember him. He would say "don't worry about all that". He had unique relationships with every person he knew, from co-workers to the homeless man that lived near his parking lot at work. Everyone can tell you about their relationship with him and no two were the same. You can find similarities in all of them from his love of animals to his incredible ability to discuss any topic including quantum mechanics, and his desire to find the next big idea. He chose his friends wisely because he could read people so well. He chose those friends so carefully because once he imprinted friendship upon them, it was absolute. He would take on the role that you needed, not what he wanted or needed. If you needed the shirt off his back or money or someone to listen to you or just someone to check in to see how you were doing, he was there to be that for you. He took on roles of friend or caretaker or protector, whatever was needed in the moment, so selflessly. It wasn't about him. It was about giving and by giving, he received more than any of us will ever realize. Our pets brought him the most joy. He was never as happy as when he was house-sitting with animals and sending pictures like he was the one on vacation. Perhaps that was his vacation. Life wasn't always the easiest for Anthony, but he would never let you know that. He didn't share a lot about himself because he preferred to hear about you and the things going on in your life. That's where he would find himself the most helpful in this world, solving problems and helping others. Everyone has their own thing, from not knowing his middle name, to thinking he was older than he was, to not even knowing he was sick but that doesn't change how valued your friendship was to him. He would want you to honor him by doing the thing that he loved, get down in the grass with your dogs to play, have a beer and listen to a friend, go to the range and unload a few, send a loved one a text or flowers, give an umbrella to a homeless person or take a drive to visit someone you haven't seen in a long time. He will be missed and he was so loved. His legacy of friendship and giving can be passed onto us all.

A celebration of Anthony's life will be held at a later date.