Obituary of Leonardo Pace

Leonardo Pace, beloved husband, brother, father, grandfather and great grandfather, died on the 5th of February, 2024 at approximately 3:05pm, after a ten year long battle with heart disease and cancer. He was 85. He leaves behind a wife, Anna, four children, Gabriella, Maria, Jim (Maria) and Tony, two sisters, Grace and Mary, six grandchildren, Daniella (Fred), Amanda, Joelle (Mike), Alexandra, John and Alex, and one great-grandchild, Lorenzo. Leonardo Pace was born on the 15th of October, 1938, in Palermo, Sicily located in the country of Italy. Born to Filippo Pace, a skilled shoemaker, who was drafted into the Italian army, mere weeks after Leonardo was born and Gabriella Pace (née Morici), an adept seamstress, who raised Leonardo and his two siblings on her own until Leonardo was seven years old, when her husband returned from the army, where he had been captured and taken as a prisoner of war. At fifteen, Leonardo traveled to and from Milan, by train, more than ten times in an effort to find work. A 912-mile trip each way. By the time he was twenty years old, Leonardo Pace had traveled across Europe three times, worked as a welder, boat tour guide, auto mechanic assistant, construction worker, egg delivery man and after one “unfortunate” episode with an angry judge, better known as “The Swiss Incident”, he was banned from the country of Switzerland for fifty years. At eighteen, Leonardo landed his dream job, a one-month long stint as an assistant in the Giro d’Italia, the second most important stage race in professional cycling after The Tour de France. Where he hung out, ate and drank with all the best cyclists in the world, including one of his childhood idols, legendary cyclist Fausto Coppi. “I was earning great pay and having a lot of fun hanging out with people I had only seen in magazines,” he later said, “It was an exciting time.” In 1961, while on a date with a girl he recently met, he spotted an acquaintance, Maria, on the beach with her sister, Anna. Leonardo had seen Anna earlier and he was smitten. He made arrangements to see Anna the next day. They were married in 1961 and were together for 63 years. In 1962, they welcomed their first child, Gabriella. Their second child, Maria, followed in 1963. Lack of job opportunities forced a move to Belgium in 1964, then in 1966, the couple sold everything and made another move to Hamilton, Ontario Canada, where Leonardo worked as a Welder at Steelco Steel. Their third child, Jim, was born in 1966 and in 1968, welcomed their fourth child, Tony. In 1970, they were granted entry into the USA and settled in Brooklyn, NY. Leonardo found a job as a plumber and then as a hotel building manager at the Milburn Hotel. In 1982, they moved to Staten Island, then bought their first home in 1986. The next three decades saw Leonardo spending most of his time with his family. Renovating his own home many times over, tending to his garden and taking frequent trips to Atlantic City and to a second family home in Forked River, NJ with friends and family. No one will ever make a better pizza or tell a better story. We will meet again, and we will hear you call our names with that excitement in your voice. And it will be thrilling. Funeral from the Matthew Funeral Home, Inc., 2508 Victory Boulevard, on Saturday, departing at 8:45 am. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Teresa’s R.C. Church at 9:30 am. Entombment to follow in Resurrection Cemetery. Family and friends are invited to visit on Friday from 2:00 to 4:00 and 6:00 to 9:00 pm.