Iavarone Bros. Matriarch Angelina Iavarone

Iavarone Bros. sadly announces the passing of Angelina Iavarone of Garden City on Jan. 26. She was 87.

Visitors may call on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 29 and 30, from 2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at , 2175 Jericho Turnpike, Garden City Park, NY, 516-747-4300.

On Monday, Jan. 31, at 10 a.m., there will be a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Anne’s R.C. Church in Garden City before a final farewell at Interment Cemetery of the Holy Rood. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Ms. Iavarone is the matriarch of the Iavarone family who is best known for their gourmet retail markets in Maspeth, , and Woodbury. She is the wife of Joseph; mother of Iavarone brothers and their wives Pasquale and Phyllis, John and Florence and Joe and June; grandmother to nine: Daniele, Christopher, Michele, Jonathan, Rachel, Jaclyn, Joseph, Jon and Juliana; great grandmother to three: John, Grace and Pasquale; and aunt to Elizabeth.

She was born Jan. 23, 1924 in Brooklyn to Elizabeth and John Aloisio from Sicily. The youngest of five children, she was also the only daughter in the family. At an early age, when her mother passed away, Ms. Iavarone first took on the role as a matriarch as she cooked, cleaned and cared for the five men in her life: her father and four brothers – Sam, Gasper, Tony and John – who during World Ward II served in four different branches of the armed services: Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines.

In the late 1940s, she met Joseph who was gradually accepted into the family after a thorough going over by her four big brothers. In 1951, she married Joseph and lived at Wilson Avenue in Brooklyn above the first Iavarone Bros. store.

Joseph would work hard and long hours as they began to raise a family – the Iavarone brothers, Pasquale (named after Joseph’s father), John (named after Angelina’s father), and Joseph (named after Angelina’s husband).

As the business started to grow, the family moved to Bayside where Ms. Iavarone was counted on not just for her generosity of spirit to friends and family but also for her cooking. Among her signature dishes – many of which are served today at Iavarone Bros. – were pasta and bean soups, Sunday sauce, stuffed artichokes, and, sausage and mushrooms.

In 1977, Angelina and Joseph moved to Garden City. In 1979, Joseph retired and the couple became snowbirds migrating to Marco Island, FL each winter.

Ms. Iavarone passed away three days after her 87th birthday, leaving behind her legacy as a loving wife, mother, grandmother and aunt.