Joseph Cannata

Giuseppe Cannata was born on July 31, 1936 in Taurianova, in the province of Reggio Calabria, Italy. His parents were Salvatore and Caterina, and his older siblings were Teresa, Rosina, Girolamo, Carmela, Giacomo and Emilia. The family ran a small agricultural business. He was born during the fragile peace between World War I and World War II, but his childhood was soon marked by Allied bombs falling in the Italian campaign. His elementary school was destroyed and the train tunnels running through the mountains of Calabria became bomb shelters. In 1959, he left home for the military, serving in the town of Palmonova in the Province of Udine and he returned to Calabria in 1960. He worked for a number of years in the nearby town of Nicastro, for an organization that serviced agricultural machines. After World War II, Calabria suffered the ravages of poverty and tens of thousands made their way to better lives in Australia, Canada and the United States. Included in this diaspora were his sister Carmela and her husband Vicenzo, who emigrated to New York. Since Giuseppe was not yet married, his mother asked him to travel to New York in the early 1960s to visit for a few weeks with his sister following the birth of her second child. The relatives in Calabria went to the train station to see him off on the train to Naples where he would board a ship bound for the United States. While in Naples, he spent several days with his very close nephew Nino who was studying medicine at the university there. After two weeks on a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Giuseppe caught a glimpse of New York harbor. He recalled at that moment deciding that he was not going back to Italy. In New York, he utilized his mechanical repair skills fixing cars and eventually buying his own to fix and resell. He ultimately became the service manager at a Volkswagen dealership in Mohegan Lake, New York. In the summer of 1971, he met Catherine Ritorto and they were married just before Christmas of that year. Catherine’s parents were also from Calabria and her father, Santo Ritorto, became Giuseppe’s lifelong best friend. Catherine and Giuseppe (now Joe) raised their children in Westchester County, New York where they lived until retiring to Florida in 2004. Despite many health challenges in the last decades of his life, Giuseppe was able to travel the world with his wife, see his children have successful careers, make many trips back to Italy to visit with his family, and watch his four grandchildren grow. His dedicated wife Catherine survives him, along with his children Danielle and Steven, his daughter-in-law, Vanessa Cannata, his grandchildren Maxwell Boeskin, Zachary Boeskin, Dylan Cannata and Nolan Boeskin. His remaining, adoring sister, Emilia, also survives him.

Joseph Cannata

July 31, 1936 - July 21, 2022