City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
Alex Zelich

Cary, North Carolina

Age 52.
Died 07/14/2022.

Alex Zelich
Alex Zelich, 52, passed away on July 14, 2022, with his family at his bedside after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Alex was a loving son, father, husband, and friend who will be greatly missed.

Alex was born in Texas to parents Margarita and Alexander Zelich in 1969. As part of a military family, he lived in Texas, Germany, Kansas, Maryland, and Louisiana. In high school, he excelled in academics and sports. He became a state champion in Texas and Arkansas for karate and earned a full scholarship to LSU for physics. Additionally, he served his country in the US Army National Guard during college.

Alex eventually found his way to NSU in Natchitoches, LA where he was a member of Kappa Alpha Order Fraternity and Blue Key. It was there that he met his wife, Katie. After graduating, they settled in North Carolina and eventually welcomed their son (and the love of their lives), Jack. He made lasting friendships and garnered great respect as a manager at IBM and Kodak. A cancer diagnosis in 2019 proved to be an unexpected challenge but Alex approached the fight with courage and tenacity while maintaining a positive attitude.

Alex was kind, generous, and intelligent. He had a wealth of knowledge and could converse on almost any subject. He had a passion for science and technology. He loved trying new things like scuba diving, skydiving, playing guitar, snow skiing, ziplining, and beekeeping. He enjoyed traveling, hiking, movies, coin collecting, and watching LSU and Saints football. He loved pizza, Korean food, and especially his Mom's cooking. He cherished the time that he spent with his family, friends, and pets, Emmie and Ruby.

Alex is survived by his wife, Katie, and son, Jack; parents Margarita and Alex; sister, Margarita and nephew, Jeremy; Grandmother, Catalina; mother-in-law, Sandra and father-in-law, Kenneth; sisters-in-law, Nancy and Charlotte; Uncles Juan and Jackie; Aunts Marta, Adela, Vera, Zlata, and Lily; many cousins and close friends, including his oldest friend, George.

A special thanks to Dr. Ranjit Joseph for always going the extra mile to provide the best care possible for Alex and to all of the wonderful and caring nurses and office staff at Rex Oncology.

Alex chose to be cremated and will have his ashes scattered during a private gathering with his family. A memorial page will be created in his honor and the link will be sent to family and friends in the near future. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Jude Children's Hospital.

For additional information or for service details, please reach out to the family directly.


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City of Oaks Cremation and Funeral Home is a full-service funeral home in Raleigh, serving all of North Carolina and beyond. We provide an alternative to costly funeral homes and every day we help families in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and all over North Carolina make simple, affordable funeral arrangements.

Simply having to reach out to a funeral home can feel overwhelming. Our goal is to simplify the entire funeral home experience and make the process as easy as possible. We hope to eliminate any unnecessary surprises by publishing our total cost and the services we provide directly on our website. All of our obituaries are provided free of charge as a way to help families celebrate and commemorate the lives of their loved ones.

Our Promise

Apples to Apples

Just like all other licensed funeral homes in North Carolina, City of Oaks Cremation, LLC is regulated by the NC Board of Funeral Service.


The same laws that apply to the big corporate funeral homes also apply to the modest independently owned firms like ours. All crematories in North Carolina, regardless of who owns them, are inspected annually by the state and must adhere to the same rules and laws.

Genuine Care

We're committed to providing families within our community unsurpassed service before, during and after the time of loss.


Our staff will provide clear communication to your family through each step as we move forward from the original phone call notifying us of a death to the time we deliver the urn back to your family. We will treat your family with the utmost respect, as we honor the wishes of your loved one.


We promise to make this process affordable and as endurable as possible.

State Wide

Our Funeral Home is located in Wake County NC; however, we provide our services to families throughout the entire State.


Unlike other funeral homes, we don't charge an additional mileage fee. Regardless of what county you live in, we can help your family with making simple, affordable funeral arrangements. From Asheville to Wilmington, we're proud to help families statewide.

Our Services

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Direct Cremation

$1196.75

Nobody likes surprise costs added in at the last minute. We guarantee you will not find any hidden charges here. We include everything you need for a simple or direct cremation. Simple, affordable and reliable. We have not changed the cost of our direct cremation service since we opened City of Oaks in 2012.

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Cremation with Solidified Remains

$2875.66

We offer the option of choosing how you receive your loved ones remains. Selecting our Direct Cremation with Solidified Remains option is a beautiful way to transform cremated remains into 40-60 “stones” that you can hold.

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Cremation with Visitation

$1917.84

City of Oaks Funeral Home and Cremation provides an affordable cremation option with onsite visitation. Nobody likes surprise costs added in at the last minute. We guarantee you will not find any hidden charges here. Simple, affordable and reliable.

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Immediate Burial

$2497.50

An immediate burial has the same end result as a traditional burial; however, we have eliminated the extra (sometimes unnecessary) services prior to getting to the cemetery. Not everyone wants an open casket for viewing or a limousine for the family. Despite the term immediate, we can move as fast as you need or as slow as you like. This option simply allows you to save money by eliminating some of the fancy extras at the funeral home.

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Traditional Funeral

$6081.48

We offer the same traditional funeral services as the big corporately owned funeral homes in the area; however, we cost about half the amount. You might consider a traditional funeral service if your family is looking for an open casket visitation, a traditional church service or a funeral service in the funeral home's chapel. A traditional funeral service can be altered to fit the needs of your family.

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Green Burial

$3033.75

This establishment is one of a select number of funeral homes who meet the criteria for providing green funeral service by the Green Burial Council; a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization working to encourage environmentally sustainability in the field of funeral service. Our Green options allow for a funeral to take place without the use of toxic and non-biodegradable materials/chemicals.

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Aquamation

$2640.59

As an alternative to traditional cremation, City of Oaks Funeral Home also offers Aquamation. The Aquamation process, often referred to as alkaline hydrolysis, uses a solution of water and potassium hydroxide to facilitate natural decomposition.

City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremations