Sacramento Bee Logo

Obituary: Sacramento County regulator Virgil Petrocchi, 98, enforced accuracy in weights and measures | The Sacramento Bee

×
  • E-edition
    • Customer Service
    • SacBee Rewards
    • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Apps
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube
    • News in Education (NIE)
  • Newsletters

    • Sacramento Region
    • Arena
    • City Beat
    • Crime
    • Local Govt Salary Database
    • The Homeless
    • Marcos Bretón
    • Transportation
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health & Medicine
    • Traffic Conditions
    • Weather
    • Communities
    • Elk Grove
    • Folsom/El Dorado
    • Roseville/Placer
    • Yolo
    • Sports
    • Kings
    • NBA News
    • 49ers
    • Giants
    • Oakland A's
    • High School Sports
    • Joe Davidson
    • More Sports
    • Raiders
    • NFL News
    • MLB News
    • River Cats
    • Soccer
    • Colleges
    • Golf
    • Autos Racing
    • Politics
    • Capitol Alert
    • State Workers
    • The California Influencer Series
    • Local Elections
    • PoliGRAPH
    • State Worker Salary Database
    • Legislative Gifts
    • Local Elections
    • California Elections
    • Election Endorsements
    • Election 2018
    • Voter Guide
    • Investigations
    • Data Tracker
    • Public Eye
    • Afghan Refugees
    • Nursing Homes
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Election Endorsements
    • Viewpoints
    • Influencers Opinion
    • California Forum
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Submit a Letter
    • Jack Ohman
    • Editorial Board
    • Entertainment & Life
    • Arts & Theater
    • Books
    • Home & Garden
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Outdoors
    • Pets
    • Travel
    • More Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Horoscopes
    • Comics
    • Puzzles
    • TV Listings
    • Sacbee Rewards
    • Food & Drink
    • Restaurants News & Reviews
    • Restaurant Directory
    • Cooking & Recipes
    • Beer
    • Wine
    • Appetizers Blog
    • California
    • Big Valley
    • Marijuana
    • Wildfires
    • Water & Drought
    • Lottery
    • Business
    • Real Estate
    • Market Summary
    • Cathie Anderson
    • Nation & World
    • National
    • World
    • Technology
    • Family
    • Celebrities
    • TV news
    • Weird News
    • Video Break
    • News Obituaries
    • Death Notices
    • FAQ
    • ObitMessenger
    • In Memoriam

    • The Sacramento Bee Store
    • Golf Card
    • Farm to Fork Dining Card
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
  • Legal Notices
  • Place an Ad
  • Advertise
  • Mobile & Apps

Local Obituaries

Obituary: Sacramento County regulator Virgil Petrocchi, 98, enforced accuracy in weights and measures

By Robert D. Dávila - bdavila@sacbee.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

June 24, 2014 05:03 PM

Virgil Petrocchi, a retired Sacramento County regulator who protected consumers against being shortchanged when buying gas, groceries and other products sold by weight or volume, died June 14 of congestive heart failure, his family said. He was 98.

A Sacramento native, Mr. Petrocchi learned about weight scales as a young man while working a kitchen supply job. In 1951, he went to work for the Sacramento County Agricultural Commissioner and rose to deputy sealer of weights and measures, overseeing inspectors who enforced accuracy of commercial weight and metering equipment ranging from gas pumps and meat scales to taxi meters and commercial weigh stations.

He visited businesses to verify items sold by size, count or weight. He filled up at gas stations in an undercover county vehicle outfitted with special fuel and oil tanks designed to accurately measure volume. He hired supermarket shoppers to buy packaged meat that could be checked for errors in weight and price.

“A lot of the store people think that we are bastards,” he told The Sacramento Bee in 1977, “but we are out doing our job to protect the public.”

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Sacramento Bee

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Mr. Petrocchi, who retired in 1981, took his job as a consumer watchdog seriously.

“Nineteen-inch shoelaces actually have to be 19 inches, so he sent a shipment that weren’t back to the manufacturer,” his son Dan said. “He closed down a whole turkey warehouse the weekend before Thanksgiving.”

A son of immigrants, Mr. Petrocchi had deep roots in Sacramento’s Italian-American community. He was born Nov. 13, 1915, to Dante and Louise Petrocchi at Third and N streets, where his mother’s family ran a boardinghouse for Italian immigrants. His grandfather Abramo Petrocchi – believed to be Sacramento’s first cobbler – was a founding member of the Piemonte Reale Benevolent Society in 1888 and served as the first president.

After graduating from Sacramento High School and Sacramento City College, he attended Heald Business College and worked at Hobart Kitchen Supply. He was drafted in 1945 and served as a B-17 mechanic at McClellan Air Force Base.

Mr. Petrocchi was an active man who read three newspapers daily, enjoyed working in his garden and drove his wife, Faye, to get her hair done until he was recently hospitalized. In addition to Piemonte Reale, he belonged to the East Portal Bocce Club and Italian Catholic Federation.

He lived for many years in the Italian enclave near East Portal Park before moving to the Sierra Oaks neighborhood. He hosted boisterous family gatherings of four generations and cheered loudly for the Oakland A’s.

“He went to San Francisco when he was 11 or 12 for the Columbus Day parade in North Beach, and the boys gave him a hard time for being from a cow town,” his son said. “That was the last time my dad rooted for anything in San Francisco.”

In addition to his son and his wife of 74 years, Mr. Petrocchi is survived by two daughters, Donna Messner and Debbie Costa; nine grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass is set for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 58th and M streets, Sacramento. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Mercy Foundation and to Christian Brothers High School.

  Comments  

Videos

Remembering Newt Wallace, publisher and editor of Winters Express newspaper

A glance at the life of Ali Youssefi, dynamic Sacramento developer

View More Video

Trending Stories

Will ‘basic income’ become the California norm? Stockton starts $500 no-strings payments

February 15, 2019 03:30 AM

Gavin Newsom says California plans to sue Donald Trump over national emergency declaration

February 15, 2019 10:32 AM

Do the 49ers go after a big-name receiver to replace Garçon? Big names keep popping up

February 15, 2019 05:46 PM

El Niño officially arrives: Rising rivers bring flood warnings to Sacramento, Yolo

February 14, 2019 12:21 PM

Rocklin teen’s murder sentence in sister’s death upheld, as judge calls new law unconstitutional

February 15, 2019 05:33 PM

Read Next

Pioneering ‘judge of the people’ Alice Lytle dead at 79

Local Obituaries

Pioneering ‘judge of the people’ Alice Lytle dead at 79

By Darrell Smith

    ORDER REPRINT →

January 06, 2019 12:00 AM

Alice A. Lytle was California’s first African-American woman Superior Court judge and, in 1982, the first black female jurist appointed to the Sacramento bench. Lytle died Dec. 21, 2018, after a brief illness.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Sacramento Bee

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE LOCAL OBITUARIES

Bernard Marks, the Holocaust survivor who challenged Trump’s immigration tactics, dies at 89

Local Obituaries

Bernard Marks, the Holocaust survivor who challenged Trump’s immigration tactics, dies at 89

December 29, 2018 06:07 PM
Eric Dahlin, local ceramics artist popular for whimsical animal sculptures, dies at 72

Local Obituaries

Eric Dahlin, local ceramics artist popular for whimsical animal sculptures, dies at 72

December 19, 2018 01:19 PM
Aubry Stone, California champion of black-owned businesses, dies at 74

Local Obituaries

Aubry Stone, California champion of black-owned businesses, dies at 74

December 01, 2018 05:11 PM
Sacramento-born artist Mel Ramos, famous for pop art of superheroes and women, dies at 83

Local Obituaries

Sacramento-born artist Mel Ramos, famous for pop art of superheroes and women, dies at 83

October 21, 2018 03:00 AM
‘Renaissance man’ Burnett Miller, former Sacramento mayor and community icon, dies at 95

Local Obituaries

‘Renaissance man’ Burnett Miller, former Sacramento mayor and community icon, dies at 95

October 15, 2018 12:04 PM
He ‘kept the Democratic cats herded:’ Former California legislator Tom Hannigan dies

Capitol Alert

He ‘kept the Democratic cats herded:’ Former California legislator Tom Hannigan dies

October 11, 2018 02:21 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

The Sacramento Bee App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Photo Store
Advertising
  • Place a Classified Ad
  • Place a Legal Notice
  • Place a Digital Ad
  • Place a Newspaper Ad
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Corrections Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story