Maria DeCaprio-Sunta is an artist dedicated to art education and community art appreciation. She teaches art privately, as well as at the McCord Gallery and Cultural Center and the LaGrange Art League. Maria was instrumental in 2001 in helping to transform the historic McCord House in Palos Park into a gallery and art school (home of the McCord Gallery and Cultural Center), and she continues to contribute art work and volunteer hours for the center. She is a member of the Palos Fine Arts Association, where she served as president from 2007-2008. She was instrumental in the design and painting of the permanent murals in the Palos Heights and Palos Park Recreation Centers and was part of the steering committee which brought the Artrain to Palos Park in 1999. She is a member of the Moraine Valley Community College Foundation Board, where she has a particular interest in helping to select exhibitions for the Robert DeCaprio Gallery in the Fine and Performing Arts Center (named after her late brother).

"Through her remarkable, unselfish contributions and dedication to the arts, she has been instrumental in the advancement of many fine programs, events, and galleries in the area," says Mayor Robert S. Straz.