FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 14, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 39
obituaries
Owner of long-standing
Glendale auto shop dies at 95
BY JACOB KAYE
jkaye@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Al Porcelli, a Brooklyn
native who was an auto-mechanic,
owner of a long-standing
Glendale auto repair shop
and fi erce advocate for the
collision-industry, died on
Tuesday, April 7, of natural
causes. He was 95.
Born in Brooklyn in 1924,
Porcelli began working in an
auto-electric shop next to his
parent’s Atlantic Avenue home
at the age of 10. By the time
he graduated high school, he
had become a master at servicing
cars.
Aft er high school, Porcelli
joined the Navy during World
War II and soon became a
top fi ghter-aircraft mechanic
at Pearl Harbor. Four years
later, he returned home to Brooklyn
and began working at a collision shop
in Queens.
It was during this time Porcelli married
his neighbor and childhood-sweetheart
Orrie, with whom he had three
sons: Michael, Dennis and Anthony.
Porcelli began working toward opening
up his own shop, and in 1949, with
his co-worker and fellow-veteran Henry
Keller, he did just that.
Central Avenue Collision Works, a
two-car garage on Central Avenue and
Cypress Hills Street in Glendale, would
move locations fi ve years later to a much
larger, fully-equipped facility just across
the street.
Al’s oldest son Michael would soon
become Porcelli’s partner and the pair
worked together until 1990, when Al
retired. Central Avenue Collision Works
is now run by Michael’s son, the third
generation of Porcelli ownership. One of
Porcelli’s biggest goals in life was advocating
for the collision industry and educating
others about it.
Around 1960, he helped form
the Auto Body Craft smen’s Guild
of New York City, one of the earliest
collision trade associations.
Porcelli served in every leadership
position in the organization and
was the longest-surviving guild
founder. He spent over 60 years
advocating for better trade education
in public schools and within
the industry. He testifi ed during
numerous government hearings
on behalf of the industry, vehicle
safety and consumer protection
issues.
Porcelli was an advocate for
Automotive Service Excellence
testing, so much so that he created
a testing site in the guild’s offi ce in
Glendale and encouraged all guild
members to become certifi ed.
For the past 30 years, Porcelli worked
as the editor of the guild’s magazine, the
Bulletin, for which he wrote hundreds of
articles. He was a self-taught researcher
and author.
Customers and friends of Porcelli’s
are encouraged to reach out to Michael
Porcelli and share stories of his father
by phone at 718-821-7868 or by email at
mjpmjp@gmail.com.
Courtesy of Marissa Jamie
Bayside funeral
director dies
following long
battle with illness
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
He fought cancer valiantly for more than
two decades, but on the eve of a new round
of chemotherapy was about to begin, Edward
D. Jamie Jr. lost his battle due to complications,
according to his family. He was 76.
Jamie was the second generation funeral
director in his family following in his
father’s footsteps and he operated the
Edward D. Jamie Jr. Funeral Chapel on
Northern Boulevard in Bayside since 1969.
His daughter Marissa Jamie is studying for
her funeral director’s license, and she, like her
father, will take over the family business.
“I worked with him since I was 13 and
I will make sure his legacy will carry on,”
Marissa Jamie said. “Everyone loved my
father. He was a pillar in the Armenian
community. Anyone who needed help he
was there no matter what time of day or
how far he had to travel. We will keep the
funeral home and we will run it the way he
always wanted it run.”
Her brother Christopher was attending
a funeral directing school in 2001 when he
passed away.
“My father got an honorable discharge
from the U.S. Army and took over my
grandfather’s funeral home in Elmhurst
and now it’s my time to do the same,”
Marissa Jamie said. “Because of him, I
know how important it is to be a funeral
director and it’s very important to me to
keep everything he believed in alive.”
Edward D. Jamie Jr. knew compassion, service,
and dedication to those in need and
would oft en go to a decedent’s home to meet
with the family to make all of the arrangements
and ease the emotional burden of making
the fi nal arrangements for a loved one.
He also knew that price and budgeting are
also important decisions in planning a direct
burial, cremation, or full services.
“Th ese things were very important to my
father and they are also very important to
me as well,” Marissa Jamie said. Jamie Jr. is
survived by his wife Lynn. Th ey were married
in 1969.
He was laid to rest next to his son on
May 12 at Nassau Knolls Cemetery.
Photo courtesy of Michael Porcelli
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