His name and his legacy will forever be a part of south Queens, and now a plaque has been installed on Cross Bay Boulevard to honor Arthur Panzarella — the attorney, realtor and philanthropist who helped shape the Howard Beach and Ozone Park residents know today.[Among those gathered to remember Arthur Panzarella were his family and members of the Kiwanis Club. (photo courtesy of Dino Bono)]
The sign was posted Oct. 11 by the Ozone Park Kiwanis Club, which Panzarella served as president more than 40 years ago, on a small green space the organization maintains just south of Pitkin Avenue.
Known as Art or Artie, though his proper name was Atillio, Panzarella was a major force in the development of south Queens and the establishment of several community groups here, most notably the South Queens Boys Club, now the Boys and Girls Club.
As the Ozone Park Kiwanis president, he guided the founding of the Howard Beach Kiwanis Club, and was a key figure in the Ozone Park Civic Association, the 106th Precinct Youth Council and the Howard Beach Chamber of Commerce. Panzarella’s contributions also helped create the Hamilton Beach Ambulance Corps.
“Through his personal efforts, with his time, his funds and his knowledge as an attorney, he gave us a better quality of life in the area,” said longtime friend Sal Mossa, one of several speakers who honored Panzarella at the plaque dedication. “He was very forceful, he was generous, he donated his personal time and energy.”
Panzarella opened his first office in Ozone Park in 1953 and moved into Howard Beach in 1958.
He shared his office for a few years with Marjorie Centrone, then a brand-new attorney, who still practices law in the area. Centrone recalled Panzarella as one of a few figures who developed Howard Beach, then a hilly swamp, and got sewers installed for the homes that were going up.
But he always made time for the community, and the Boys Club was “his baby,” Centrone recalled.
“If you knew Arthur, you appreciated him,” she said. “He didn’t smile too much, but if he could help you, he would.”
One of nine children, Panzarella was born in 1919 and moved to New York in 1931. He stayed here until the late 1970s, when he retired to Arizona, where his son, Arthur Panzarella, remains, and from which he still controls the shopping center and office complex his father built on Cross Bay Boulevard.
Atillio Panzarella died in 1995 at age 75. His family, comprising four children, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren — as well as numerous nieces, nephews and other more distant relatives — “continues his legacy, in New York and Arizona,” his son said.
Certainly south Queens will always remember him.
