Obituary of Joann Z. Mills
Penfield – Jody Mills passed peacefully at home on Thursday, August 20, 2026, at the age of 70. Jody (nee Zwerger) was born on August 25, 1955, in Rochester and was raised in Geneseo. Upon graduating from Geneseo High School, Jody attended the Philadelphia College of Art, receiving a BFA in Illustration, after which began Phase 1 of her professional career. In her first career-related position, she worked as a Technical Illustrator for National Designers, a military subcontractor in Philadelphia. It was while at National Designers that she also met her soon-to-be life partner, Len Mills.
Jody and Len relocated to her home turf of Rochester, NY, in the spring of 1982. Jody immediately found gainful employment as an Assistant Art Director at Matrix Unlimited, a packaging design and production firm. Jody worked under the tutelage of her long-time mentor, Chuck Falco; later, when Chuck left the company, Jody assumed his position as Art Director at Matrix.
While Jody enjoyed her work in the commercial art field, something was still missing for her. Nature, Gardening, and Horticulture had always been her lifelong passions. So she pivoted in her career goals and enrolled in the Horticulture program at the Community College of the Finger Lakes. Jody earned a second degree in Horticulture at CCFL. Thus, began Phase 2 of her professional career.
After graduating from CCFL, Jody worked at the Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY. While there, she contributed to an effort to develop Fire Blight resistance in Gala Apples. This involved high tech gene editing and PCR procedures. Eventually, Jody and her team members produced a Fire Blight resistant strain of Gala Apples, which are commercially available to the general public today. She also co-authored a published scientific paper documenting the study results.
After leaving the Experiment Station, Jody teamed with fellow CCFL alum Laurie Broccolo. Laurie hired Jody as Horticulture Manager and Plant Pathology expert for her company, Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care. While at Broccolo, Jody served as a Jill-of-all-horticultural-trades, providing employee training, defining company best practices in landscaping, lawn care, garden design and maintenance, providing pesticide certification training, and most of all, providing expertise in plant pathology at all levels of the plant kingdom. Jody had a highly developed sense for what might ail a plant. This was so much the case that her professional horticultural colleagues referred to her as “Yoda,” an unofficial title that she wore with pride.
After several years at Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care, Jody moved on to provide the same kind of horticultural expertise and professional dedication to Birchcrest Tree & Landscape. Her desk at Birchcrest was often littered with plant disease samples and apparently malevolent bugs and pests of all sizes and descriptions. All part of the plant pathology toolkit.
Predeceased by her mother, Betty Zwerger. Survived by her husband of 44 years, Len, brother Mark (Sandra) Zwerger, sister Bonnie Costanza, sister-in-law Roberta Stark, brothers-in-law Thomas and Donald Mills, many cousins, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, and so many dear friends, especially her BFF Erinkate Schulte.
Jody’s family would also like to send a special thank you to all of the caregivers that accompanied Jody on her final journey, including Rochester Regional Homecare personnel Jodi Rusch, Sharon Way, Ro Dombeck, Michelle Hopkins, Rob Dalton, Sandra Nesbitt, Dawn Curtis, and Kathy Di Stefano.
Jody’s final resting place will be White Haven Memorial Park in Pittsford, NY. A Memorial Service will take place at a later date TBA.