Nick Farina — Remembering a Cedarhurst legend

A week after his death, friends and former colleagues of Nicholas Farina are recalling the many contributions made by the longtime Cedarhurst resident to the Five Towns community. Among them were Farina’s 25 years as mayor of Cedarhurst, 32 years as principal of the Number Five School and 10 years as head football coach at Lawrence High School.

Farina died on Jan. 25 at his home in Grand Junction, Colo., where he relocated in 1995. Andrew Parise replaced him as Cedarhurst mayor that year.

“He was one of the kindest, greatest guys you'd ever want to meet,” said Parise, who ordered all flags in Cedarhurst lowered to half-staff for a week after Farina's death. “He'd say hello to everybody.”

Parise's close relationship with Farina dated back to 1938, when Parise had Farina as a civics teacher at Lawrence High. After Parise returned from fighting in World War II, Farina urged him to become involved in the Five Towns Kiwanis, which Farina led as president for many years.

In 1971, when Farina was appointed Cedarhurst mayor after serving as a village trustee, he tapped Parise as his replacement on the board. “He was my mentor,” said Parise, recalling that he had morning coffee every day with Farina at Cedarhurst Village Hall when he worked for the Town of Hempstead.

Farina grew up in central Pennsylvania, one of nine children, and became an All-American football player at Bucknell University, where he graduated in 1934. He was head football coach at Lawrence High from 1936 to 1945, and in that 10-year stretch his teams lost only seven games and recorded four undefeated seasons. In 1946 he was named principal of the Number Five School, a position he held until 1977.

Farina, who earned a master’s degree at New York University, became a member of the Cedarhurst Board of Trustees in 1958, when he was tapped to fill the seat held by Charles Lapp Jr., who was chosen to be village justice after the death of Judge Edgar Tracey. “He was one of the outstanding members of the village family,” Lapp said of Farina. “He built Cedarhurst into the outstanding village it is today.”

During his years as mayor, Cedarhurst's commercial district around Central Avenue thrived as much as any village in Nassau county, according to Marvin Zuckerman, a former president and chairman of the Cedarhurst Business Association. “He was generally a wonderful person who listened to everybody and was willing to take on ideas,” said Zuckerman, who owned a jewelry store in Cedarhurst called Marvin & Sons.

Farina was an enthusiastic supporter of the arts as both principal and mayor, said Norman Horowitz, cofounder of the Stecher and Horowitz School of the Arts, which moved from Cedarhurst to Manhattan in 1999 after 39 years in the Five Towns. From 1984 to 1996, Horowitz helped run the Nick Farina Golf Tournament at the Rockaway Hunting Club in Lawrence, half of whose proceeds went to the art school. “He was a tremendous supporter of the arts,” Horowitz said of Farina.

Farina served as president of the Nassau County Village Officials Association, and co-founded, with Zimmie Nathanson, a summer day camp in North Lawrence called Branch Athletes. He was an active member of St. Joachim R.C. Church.

Farina's wife of 73 years, Kitty, died in November at age 98. He is survived by his twin sons Tom (Barbara) of Lynbrook and Terry (Bev) of Grand Junction, and nine grandchildren.

Comments about this story? Nassaueditor@

liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 201.