Prolific builder and lifelong Island Park resident, Frank Bua, dies at 85

Posted

Frank Bua, a lifelong Island Park resident and building project manager responsible for the construction of the Island Park Public Library and dozens of homes across the village, died on Sept. 26 at age 85. The cause of death was cancer, his family said.

Bua was a president of the Senior Club at the Island Park Senior Housing complex, and a member of the Rosary Society. He served as a Eucharistic minister at Sacred Heart Church in Island Park and according to his son Gaspare, would travel to deliver communion at the homes of those who could not attend the Sunday services in person.

“He was very, very active,” Gaspare said of his late father adding that he continued to stay involved in the community until the end of his life.

In 1960s, Bua founded the construction company, Bua Building, out of his Parma Road house. From there he managed the erection of nearly 100 homes across Long Island, including 30 in the village.

When the economy hit a downturn in the 1970s, he shuttered the business and took it on the road to pursue projects wherever he could. “He wanted to keep us in the lifestyle we were accustomed to,” Gaspare said.

It led him to spend 13 months in Africa managing the construction of a post office in Lagos, Nigeria. “They wanted the best project manager they could find,” Gaspare recalled. “And of course be willing to go,” he joked. Bua was also responsible for building a 30-story skyscraper in Greenwich, Conn. during the mid 1970s.

“He never drank and never smoked, overall he was a very good, nice guy,” Gaspare said. “We all miss him.”

“He did everything good,” Bua’s wife of 65 years, Blanche, said. “I was blessed.”

In addition to his son and wife, Bua is survived by his daughter Jean, grandchildren Frank, Marianna, Luda and Bobby, and great grandchildren Marco and Violet Bua.