Oct. 6th, 2008

Peter P. Romano, 82, of New Dorp, a retired heavy equipment operator and bandleader, died Thursday, Sept. 4th, 2008, in the Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, Dongan Hills.

Born and reared in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, Mr. Romano attended New Utrecht High School before enlisting in the US Navy during WWII.

He became a parachute rigger and part-time radio operator on board the USS SALT LAKE CITY, a heavy cruiser that participated in many naval bombardments in the Pacific Theater, including the Battle of Tarawa. Mr. Romano was honorably discharged in 1946. Due to his time in the Navy, he became a strong swimmer who developed a lifelong love of the ocean, fishing and seafood.

For 30 years Mr. Romano worked as a heavy equipment operator in the Army Motor Pool at the Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne, retiring in 1982. He then worked as a security guard and messenger for JPMorgan in Manhattan until retiring in 1993.

Mr. Romano was an accomplished guitarist and singer. Since the mid-1960s he worked as a bandleader with the Phil Simms Orchestra at many weddings and parties in the New York area. He loved to tell his family about parties he entertained, they recalled, including a Republican fund-raiser at the former Shalimar in New Dorp in 1980, when he played "Hail to the Chief" as Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush made a visit to the event.

Mr. Romano moved to New Dorp in 1992 and continued his passion for growing tomatoes and other vegetables.

Surviving are his wife of 52 years, the former Angela Serrone; his three sons, Peter, Nat and Robert; his daughter Carol Scicchigno, and nine grandchildren.