Widow and son planning to keep alive father’s faux-paint business.
By: Jill Matthews
MONTGOMERY Doreen Solazzo had two choices: sit down and grieve, letting the business her husband built from the ground up falter, or get up and take over Illusions in Paint to ensure its success.
With determination and drive, Ms. Solazzo is doing the latter.
Her husband, Dominick, founded the Montgomery-based faux-paint company 13 years ago. Prior to that, he worked at Merrill Lynch for over two decades.
Mr. Solazzo suffered from bipolar disorder, a mental illness, and took his own life on July 8. He was 58.
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual and severe shifts in a person’s mood, energy and ability to function, according to the National Institute for Health.
Despite being diagnosed with the mental health disorder 30 years ago, Mr. Solazzo combined his desire to work with his hands and his drive to succeed to create his business from scratch.
"Even with his disease, he still did well with his business and succeeded because he knew it (the business) well," said Ms. Solazzo.
Now, Ms. Solazzo wants the community to know that the doors to Illusions in Paint are still open and that she is going to pick up where her husband left off. Her 17-year-old son, Christopher, also plans to help out.
And, just as importantly, she wants to inform the public about the illness her husband, and many other Americans, suffer from each year.
"To continue with his business is a special thing for me," said Ms. Solazzo. "I’m so proud of it. He started from nothing and achieved his goal."
The customized-paint business focuses on moderately-priced faux finishes, ranging from Venetian plaster and decorative art paintings to airbrushing. With a team of three artists, Illusions in Paint can create just about any look a customer might be interested in even fake bricks and columns. Illusions in Paint once even painted the inside of a pool in Princeton with sea creatures.
"The business is going stronger than ever," said Ms. Solazzo, adding that it is expanding into interior design and works with individual homeowners as well as with builders.
In 2002, Ms. Solazzo began working at the business developing advertising schemes. Also a former Merrill Lynch employee, Ms. Solazzo said she is confident she can learn the details of the business because of her determination to make it a success.
"If … you have the drive, you can do anything," said Ms. Solazzo. "If you condition your mind to follow a dream, you can do anything."
Ms. Solazzo plans to continue the dream her husband started.
"My husband always had the big pictures in his head and to do that, you had to be brilliant," said Ms. Solazzo.
Attention to detail was one of his strongest points.
"My husband knew exactly how much money he had every day," said Ms. Solazzo, adding that he knew "every detail to the penny."
Mr. Solazzo loved to go fishing, play pool, had a great ability to make people laugh, and loved his family, she said.
"People came in (at the funeral) and said to me, ‘He only painted one room in my house but he made me laugh,’" said Ms. Solazzo.
"In this business, the key is the sales," said Ms. Solazzo. Her husband, she said, was always strong in sales, making sure he closed a deal the first time he talked to a customer.
But while his strongest gift was sales, because of the disorder, he feared his customers, Ms. Solazzo said.
Except for a few close friends, family and church members, no one knew of Mr. Solazzo’s illness. For years the family kept the illness a secret, but now they hope the public will become more aware of the mental illness.
"It’s good for people to know because maybe they will be more aware of the disease," said Christopher, a rising senior at Montgomery High School who is now determined to enter the field of child psychology because of his father’s illness.
Often, Ms. Solazzo said, the disorder is not treated the same as a physical illness, like diabetes, would be treated. Often families are left paying exorbitant healthcare fees that are not covered by insurance and ill patients are sometimes mistreated by management care systems.
"These people are not lazy," said Ms. Solazzo. "They have something wrong in their brains."
According to the NIH, more than 2 million Americans, or about 1 percent of the population aged 18 and older, have bipolar disorder each year. Generally, the disorder develops in late adolescence or early childhood but often goes undiagnosed.
A person with bipolar disorder will have what are called "episodes" of mania and depression. Some symptoms of mania include increased energy, activity, and restlessness; excessively "high," overly good, euphoric mood; extreme irritability; and unrealistic beliefs in one’s abilities and powers, among other things. Some symptoms of depression include lasting sad, anxious, or empty moods; feelings of hopelessness or pessimism; feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness; and chronic pain or other persistent bodily symptoms that are not caused by physical illness or injury.
While researchers have not been able to pinpoint the cause of the illness, it is likely that "many different genes act together, and in combination with other factors of the person or the person’s environment, to cause bipolar disorder," according to the NIH.
But people with bipolar disorder can lead healthy, normal lives when the illness is properly treated, a point Ms. Solazzo wanted the public to know.
Community members in Rocky Hill, where the Solazzos live, and at their church, St. Charles Borromeo in Montgomery, along with many others, have been very supportive of the family following Mr. Solazzo’s death.
"It’s amazing how many people he touched," said Christopher, who estimated 650 people came to his father’s wake.
The Solazzos have two other children, 12-year-old Dominick and 7-year-old Nicholas.
"People call me up and say, ‘What can we do?’ " said Ms. Solazzo. "Nothing. It will take time to heal."
Ms. Solazzo said the best thing anyone can do for her children is to treat them as they normally would.
"The bottom line is, you gotta live each day as it’s your last day because your life can change in an instant," said Ms. Solazzo.
More information on bipolar disorder is available at the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder at www.stepbd.org, or the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/. Illusions in Paint is located at 244 Wall St. in Montgomery. For more information, call (609) 683-8619.