Remembering Gianluca Primucci in Everyday Acts of Care

As June begins, we pause to share a tribute to Gianluca Primucci, and to honour the care he extended to others through art, connection and everyday acts of kindness.    

Gianluca was a food connoisseur. He cooked, he ate and he secretly critiqued. At a quarter to six every evening, Gianluca would send his mother a photo of his dinner plate. The plate was always thoughtfully prepared, but it wasn’t really about the food. It was a simple, steady gesture that spoke to his consistency: a way of saying “I’m here. I’m thinking of you.”  

For those closest to Gianluca, there was never any doubt — they knew he was in their lives. If he said he’d call at 6 p.m. the next day, the phone would ring at 6 p.m.  

Drawn to painting and drawing from an early age, his creativity extended to cooking, designing his workspace, reading and the visual arts. He had a deep appreciation for imagination in all its forms. Often described as a “gentle giant,” he carried both sensitivity and steadiness in equal measure.  

He believed deeply in art for its own sake, but also in what it gave back to the person creating it. Where some forms of art felt bound by expectation, he was drawn to abstraction; work that left space for interpretation.  

“To me, the essence of good abstraction is when you look at it and see something different every time, or it simply gives you the feeling of awe,” Gianluca said.  

That openness shaped more than his art. It shaped how he saw people.  

Gianluca approached his relationships with patience and curiosity. With his niece and nephews, he always moved at their pace, never rushing or forcing an outcome. If five minutes stretched into thirty, it didn’t matter. What mattered was being present.  

He carried that care into his teaching at the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario.  

“My students have told me about being depressed but then having the courage to come to my class.” Gianluca said, “It’s so rewarding to see their paintings and drawings made after the classes are done.”  

Gianluca believed in expression without pressure, in showing up without expectation and in finding meaning in the process itself.  

“When I hear him describing a work of art, I heard the enthusiasm in his voice,” Kim Umback, manager of support programs at Mood Disorders Association of Ontario, shared.  

“He is knowledgeable and enjoys passing on the knowledge to others. He has been able to inspire his beginner students to create some great works of art and I believe his love of art for art’s sake, rather than passing judgement about whether something is right or wrong is what makes him successful.”  

This summer, Gianluca’s legacy continues through the Primucci family’s support of Second Harvest’s Feeding Our Future program, where lunches are delivered to camps across the GTA, helping ensure that young people have access to the nourishment they need to learn, grow and discover themselves.  

In many ways, it reflects the same values he lived by, care that is consistent, thoughtful and quietly impactful.  

The next time you share a meal, whether in-person or thinking of someone and sending a message, we invite you to reflect that nourishment takes many forms. It can be found in connection, creativity and self-expression and in the quiet, consistent ways we show up for one another each day.