Frances Borsellino died peacefully in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on September 3, 2025. Born on October 13, 1927, the daughter of Sicilian immigrants Liborio and Vicenza Borsellino and sister of Rita Borsellino Zeigler, Frances lived her entire life in Bayside, Queens, until 2020, when she relocated to Florida with her long-time companion, Roy Harlick, with whom she had a 30-year relationship. She is survived by four first cousins in the US and a second cousin in Florence, Italy.

Frances graduated from Queens College, the first in her extended family of Sicilian immigrants, and spent her entire career in the Elmont, NY, school system as a reading specialist. She was fondly remembered by her students, evidenced by several letters found among her papers. One former student took pains to write to Frances when she, the student, was seventy years old to thank Frances for her kind attention in the fourth grade: “You changed my life and as a result I too became a life-long teacher”.

Frances travelled the world, starting in the early 1950s, a time when most women would not travel without a male partner, regaling her relatives after Thanksgiving dinner with slides of her exotic adventures. She knew her mind, she was devoted to her sister and mother, having lost her father when she was sixteen, she loved her profession, and she loved her Sicilian heritage.