Miami stylist to the stars Frank Ricigliano dies at 56. ‘He had magic in him.’
Frank Ralph Ricigliano, a beloved fixture on the Miami beauty scene, died at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on July 4 of complications after a heart transplant. He was 56.
“So ironic that someone with such a loving heart — big-hearted is a bad thing, not a healthy thing — but with a kind, gentle, loving heart and that the heart should be his ultimate undoing. Something wrong poetically there,” said director Richard Jay-Alexander. “For me, it doesn’t match up.”
Smiling through the tears — in tribute to Ricigliano’s oversized personality — friend Sister Roma of San Francisco’s Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence charity, protest, and street performance organization paid tribute in a Facebook post:
“It’s also SO YOU to move on to your next life on the 4th of July. Way to go out with a BANG ...,” Sister Roma, aka Michael Williams, wrote.
Perhaps writer L. Frank Baum captured the likes of Ricigliano best when he wrote these immortal lines from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” more than 120 years ago: “A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”
‘A pioneer Miami businessman’
Ricigliano, born in Buffalo, New York, on Jan. 28, 1965, was a pioneer businessman on Miami’s Upper East Side, said his friend Margot Winick.
Ricigliano, who attended Buffalo State College and received cosmetology training in Miami, opened his own salon, Frankiebaby, on 79th Street and Biscayne Boulevard in 2014, and moved it to 107th and Biscayne in 2018. Before opening Frankiebaby, Ricigliano was a stylist at several salons in South Beach and on the Upper East Side of Miami. He ran SouthBeach Styling, a business for film shoots and bridal photos.
Ricigliano was featured in American Vogue, W and Cosmopolitan magazines. He did styling for runway shows, textile and fashion design and fashion photography, according to his bio on Frankiebaby. He acted in a 2003 Christmas musical, “It’s a Fabulous Life,” written by Miami Beach’s David Sexton. Ricigliano styled a photo shoot for Bunny Yeager just before the famed Miami Shores photographer and model died in 2014.
Ricigliano was, friends and associates say, the go-to make-up and hair guy in Miami for working and visiting celebs, among others.
“A music lover with a booming singing voice, he loved to entertain at work and at home. In between haircuts or hair color appointments, he played piano in his salon, and played piano at home. He held large holiday parties, rescued dogs and cats, and designed for his friends in the beauty business. Frank always had time for friends and his mere presence cheered you up. Simply put, he made you look and feel better. For this, I will miss him greatly. His energy and bright smile lit up a room,” Winick wrote in an email to the Miami Herald.
Acts of kindness and joy
“He was a magical person,” added Jay-Alexander, who met Ricigliano when both were newcomers to the Miami Beach area in the late 1980s.
“He had magic in him and those sparkly eyes. He loved show business and we went to see tons of things together. He was just a spark, one of those people people gravitated toward. In terms of his talents, there was not a better hair and makeup person. Every star I introduced him to loved him and he wasn’t star struck. He just did his job and was great and funny. He’d go to his piano and break into song.”
But Jay-Alexander also remembers another trait. An act of kindness.
For years, Ricigliano cut press agent Charlie Cinnamon’s hair. Everyone loved Charlie Cinnamon. And Ricigliano loved Charlie right to the end after Cinnamon had a stroke that would take his life in November 2016. At the same time, Ricigliano was dealing with his own health issues. That heart, a defect from birth.
“Frank was there when Charlie was in the hospital and he cut his hair and shaved him and cleaned him up. Charlie couldn’t speak. These are the loving things, even when exhausted, Frank did. He was always on a mission if he could make someone’s life better,” Jay-Alexander said.
“Frank and I met approximately 12 years ago and have been partners since,” said Chuck Ellis. “We both were lucky to have great families and friends and, wow, bringing those two dynamics together were simply wonderful. He was pretty well known in South Florida and the best part, which also was reflective of who he was as a person, was the great diversity of friends that he had from every walk of life. He always wanted everyone to feel that they mattered and were important — and they did and were to him.
“Due to his long health issues with his heart we left no conversation, thoughts or feelings unsaid. And for that I’m grateful I had that opportunity that so many do not. Frank was life itself and he will carry my heart until we meet again,” Ellis said.
Added roommate and best pal Michael Hamilton who owned a house together with Ricigliano since 1996: “He just brought joy and life and music and beauty everywhere he went. He would greet homeless people and celebrities with the same enthusiasm and was always extending himself. He helped people get off the street, get off drugs and alcohol, rescued tons of animals. He was such a genuine and caring person.”
Services and survivors
Ricigliano’s survivors include his partner, Chuck Ellis, and his sister, Maria Evans. He was predeceased by his parents.
Visitation will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 11, at Perna, Dengler, Roberts Funeral Home, 1671 Maple Rd, Williamsville, New York. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 8:45 a.m. Monday, July 12, at St Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Parish, 200 St. Gregory Ct., Williamsville, New York. A celebration of life will be planned for Miami at a later date, Hamilton said.
Donations in Ricigliano’s memory can be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
