Joseph B. “Joe” Zigmont, 93, of Wilmington, Vermont, passed away on October 10, 2026, at Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut. He was born March 18, 1933, in Throop, Pennsylvania, the son of the late Joseph Zigmont Sr. and Vera (Ezepchick) Zigmont.
Joe grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and graduated from Warren Harding High School. He served his apprenticeship as a precision tool and die maker at Casco in Bridgeport and went on to work at various companies, including Perkin-Elmer and the Bic Pen Corporation. In 1981, Joe became co-owner of Hamden Tool and Die in Seymour with Lino Costantini, and over the next two decades the business earned a strong reputation for precision mold making.
Years of reading blueprints shaped how Joe saw the world. He was analytical by nature, a trait that ran in his family, and was skilled with his hands, whether working through a building project or figuring out why something had stopped working and fashioning a part to repair it.
In the middle years of his life, Joe lived in Woodbridge, Connecticut, with his wife, Eleanor (Silver) Zigmont, who predeceased him in 2015 after a long illness.
Joe was an avid fly fisherman who, often with Lino, spent countless hours on Connecticut’s rivers and made frequent trips to fish in Montana and Yellowstone National Park. He was a keen amateur photographer and a lover of nature. In his later years he made his home on Lake Raponda, where he especially treasured the loons that lived on the lake. A lifelong lover of jazz, he also closely followed space flight, technology, Formula 1 racing and professional rugby.
Joe is survived by his son, Gerald “Jerry” Zigmont, and Jerry’s wife, Suzanne Sliker; his
granddaughters, Elke Zigmont and Anya Zigmont; and his brother, Victor Zigmont. In addition to Eleanor, he was predeceased by his sister, Joan Jardine, and his brother, Michael Zigmont.
A graveside service will be held on Saturday, October 24, at 11 a.m. at Eastside Cemetery, 157 Pease Road, Woodbridge, Connecticut. Wakelee Memorial Funeral Home in Ansonia is in charge of arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Joe’s name to the Vermont Loon Conservation Project of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Donations are tax-deductible.
Online: Visit vtecostudies.org/give/online, choose “Vermont Loon Conservation Project,” and note that the gift is in memory of Joe Zigmont.
By mail: Make checks payable to “Vermont Center for Ecostudies,” write “Loon Conservation – in memory of Joe Zigmont” on the memo line, and mail to:
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
P.O. Box 420
Norwich, VT 05055
Online condolences may be shared at www.wakeleememorial.com.