#jacob raggio

gerardway: Jacob Raggio

September 30th, 1985 - March 19th, 2021

Been trying to think of the best way to put it into words, but this is a huge loss, for everyone whose life he touched, and of course for his family who loved him dearly.

I’ll never forget the first time I met Jake. We were doing a couple of production days at the arena to get everything in order for the first big Black Parade tour with full production, so there were a lot of moving pieces. I remember our head carpenter Thor asking me to come back and take a look at something they were working on, which I believe was a facade of a traditional upright piano that the keyboards could sit in, painted black. It looked great. Next to Thor was this young fresh faced kid with a beard, who was the carpenter’s assistant. He introduced himself as Jake. Immediately you could feel his excitement, enthusiasm, and positivity. You could tell right away he was someone that wanted to be a part of something, wanted to go on that great big adventure that touring can be and see the world. He worked hard, and his enthusiasm never wavered, even when touring got difficult. He kept working his way up. Fast forward to Project Rev years later and he’s was now stage managing us, and before we went on, just like the tours before this, Jake would round everyone up for the high-five line and start getting everyone juiced. And he was so pure and sincere you couldn’t help get as excited as he was. He’d pace back and forth, saying “Get it, boys. Get it.”, and we did, and he was the first face you would see as you walked off stage and you could fee how proud he was every night, because a victory for us was a victory for everyone, him included. I will miss him so much. And it may have felt at first that the world was a little dimmer without his light, but his light is truly eternal and I’ll feel it every time I’m about to go on stage. Sending love and condolences to his family, he will be missed.

(29 March 2021)