Fiorinta M. Pifalo

Fiorinta Pifalo, 93, recently of Ithaca, NY and who called Staten Island home for more than fifty years, died on June 18, 2014 at Hospicare and Palliative Services of Tompkins County.

Mrs. Pifalo was born on June 1, 1921 in Greenwich Village, daughter of Salvatore and Grazia (Muzii) Tenaglia. Her first move to Staten Island was as an infant, to a house the family had built in Arrochar. She spent her early childhood there until the family relocated to New Jersey where she completed her schooling, graduating from West Side High School in Newark in 1939. Fio married Joseph Pifalo on April 15, 1945 and they moved in 1952 from Brooklyn to Randall Manor, Staten Island to raise their family. She worked at P.S. 45 as a school aide for thirteen years and was active in the parent-teacher organizations of the schools her children attended. She was a founder of the Coronary Care Club and served as its President for two years. The Club arranged for critical equipment donations to all three of the Staten Island hospitals at that time. In 1976, she and her husband retired to Florida where he died in 1979. She took up residence once again in Staten Island in 1982 and remained until 2006. At that time she joined the expanding branch of her family living in California. In 2011, she returned to the East Coast.

Fio is lovingly remembered by her family and the numerous friends whose lives she touched over the many years. Immediate survivors include her children: Celeste Robinson (Gerald) of Reno, NV, Victoria Pifalo (Kieran Donaghy) of Ithaca, Joseph Pifalo (Lorraine) of Staten Island; six grandchildren: Amy Giovannetti, Steven Braman, Sara Mendoza, and Stephanie, Jessica, and Jamie Pifalo; five great grandchildren: Marina Giovannetti, Ethan and Cameron Braman, and Noah and Isabella Mendoza.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, June 22, 2014 from 4pm to 6pm at Bangs Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Fr. Joseph Marcoux on Monday, June 23, 2014 at 10:30am at St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Ithaca. Burial will be in St. Petersburg, Florida with her husband. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to a charity of your choice, or Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 6931 Arlington Road, Suite 200, Bethesda, Maryland 20814, or Hospicare and Palliative Services of Tompkins County, 172 East King Road, Ithaca, New York, 14850.