BY KYLE VUILLE
Daniel ‘Danny’ Charles Cestaro, a
founder of the Morris Park Community
Association, passed away peacefully in
his Morris Park home on Tuesday, December
17 alongside family at the age of
89.
According to his daughter, Jaclyn
DeBellis, Cestaro, the son of Italian immigrants,
was born on Bogart Avenue in
Morris Park.
Cestaro attended P.S. 83 as a young
child and attended Christopher Columbus
High School.
He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force during
the Korean War and worked in telegraph
communications.
After the service, he joined his father
in the furniture repair business, along
with his brother, on Westchester Avenue
.A
fter his father’s death, he and his
brother moved the furniture store to
Morris Park Avenue, one block away
from P.S. 83, where it remained for approximately
60 years until its closing in
2010.
“A lot of people would come into the
furniture store just to talk to him,” De-
Bellis said. “There was one crossing
guard from the corner who he always
welcomed to stay inside the store on really
cold or hot days.”
DeBellis said the family’s home during
her youth always had an open door
policy for guests whether it was former
Senator Jeff Klein or someone who
needed a place to stay.
“He helped so many people in some
many different ways,” DeBellis said.
“He even taught (one person) to read and
write so they could get a job.”
Cestaro was quite the multi-faceted
individual: he was an amateur boxer
that participated in the Golden Gloves
matches, and also a skilled clarinet
player and jazz enthusiast.
As crime escalated around Morris
Park in the early 70s, Cestaro stepped up
to the plate and founded the Morris Park
Association to keep the neighborhood
safe and sound in 1973.
Cestaro gathered a core of concerned
individuals that included Al D’Angelo,
Frank Agovino and the late Dominic Castore
and Rocco Miano, with the help of
local elected offi cials, started a neighborhood
civilian patrol in the early morning
hours to keep the residents safe from
crime.
According to D’Angelo and Agovino,
the association then had about 2,500 duespaying
members. In those days membership
cost $10 and $7 for senior citizens.
“He started something from nothing
and it proved to be one of the most viable
organizations in the city,” current Morris
Park Community Association president
D’Angelo said. “We believed in his
ways and he was a good organizer.”
Current fi rst vice president Frank
Agovino said the 46-year-old organization
would not exist without Cestaro’s
early leadership.
“He was the information highway
back then,” Agovino said.
D’Angelo and Agovino refl ected that
the association’s beginning coincided
with the Son of Sam’s reign of terror. The
serial killer’s fi rst murder occurred in
nearby Pelham Bay.
Cestaro not only was the founder of
the Morris Park Association, but also
contributed to the start-ups of other
neighborhood associations such as the
Allerton Avenue Homeowners and Tenants
Association, Pelham Parkway
Community Association, Pelham Bay
Association and Zerega Community Association.
According to his daughter, he was
also one of the original founders of the
Morris Park Columbus Day parade as
well as the home school association for
St. Francis Xavier.
He also served on the board of trustees
for Jacobi Hospital and Westchester
Square Hospital for more than 30 years.
While Cestaro ran his furniture store
on weekends he also was employed as a
building inspector for the city of New
York. He retired from the city job in 2000
at the age of 70.
“He had a vast knowledge about the
city and made an effort to join different
boards like the community board, the
hospital boards, the precinct council, to
make sure (the community) had a say,”
Agovino said. “That was important.”
Even with all his community involvement,
Jaclyn said her father always had
time for them and kept a running tradition
of the Sunday family dinner, up to
his last living moments.
Cestro is survived by his wife, Linda,
two daughters, Jaclyn and Melissa, and
four grandchildren.
3 BRONX WEEKLY January 5, 2020 www.BXTimes.com
Morris Park community leader,
Danny Cestaro, remembered
Daniel Charles Cestaro stands with his beloved
clarinet. Cestaro was a man of many talents and
the founder of the Morris Park Community Association.
Photo courtesy of Ricky Restiano Photography
Daniel Cestaro (fourth from right) stands with other members of the Morris Park Community Association
to celebrate the opening of a new headquarters in the late 70s. Cestaro was the president at the
time of the photo.
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