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FURNARI |
Angelo Furnari; led state chapter of Italian heritage group; at 79
Angelo Furnari, the former president of the Massachusetts chapter of the nation’s oldest and largest Italian heritage organization, died May 25 of prostate cancer at the Boston Center for Rehabilitation in Roslindale. He was 79.
Mr. Furnari was a lifelong Boston resident, growing up in Roxbury and later moving to Roslindale, where he lived for the past 49 years.
The father of three spent 45 years at Metropolitan Life Insurance in Brookline, forming a reputation as a top salesman and mentor to trainees. One year he sold more than $1 million in insurance, winning a paid vacation.
“He was one of the top sellers in the region at least 10 times,’’ said his son Michael, a real estate agent in Weymouth. “The family was always going away on trips as a reward.’’
Near the end of his career at
As chapter president, he moved the group’s headquarters from Boston to Belmont and helped found a lodge in Boston.
Mr. Furnari also appointed Thomas M. Menino, then a Boston city councilor, to a lead post in the group. Years later, the two would accept the “I Migliori’’ award for successful Italian-Americans in New England. Past recipients include Paul Cellucci, former governor, and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo.
Mr. Furnari graduated in 1947 from Roxbury Memorial High School, where he played basketball and was a finalist in the state spelling bee. He went on to Suffolk University, receiving his bachelor’s degree in business in 1952.
During his college summers, he drove an ice cream truck he owned with his brother, Joseph, who would become a judge in Salem District Court and die in 1999.
In 1954, Mr. Furnari helped a woman struggling with her groceries in Roxbury, eventually driving home the mother and her daughter, Natalie (Showstead), who would become his wife.
The two married at St Joseph’s Church in Boston in 1957.
“He was a little bit shy,’’ said Natalie, who still lives in their Roslindale home. “He proposed over the telephone, and it was amazing anyway, even over the phone.’’
Their 52d wedding anniversary would have been Tuesday.
The couple had three children, Michael, Denise of Norwood, and John of Falmouth. Michael recalled his father’s involvement in his and his siblings’ lives: Mr. Furnari attended nearly all of Denise’s basketball games at St. Clare High School in Roslindale and the University of Massachusetts at Boston, where she set scoring records, and he coached John’s baseball team to a Parkway Little League championship.
In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Furnari leaves three grandchildren. Services have been held.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
