Jack Caputo dies short of 102nd birthday

Jack Caputo, a 33-year resident of Valley Stream, died on July 31, 2011, just 16 days shy of his 102nd birthday.

Caputo died from complications from a broken hip he suffered earlier this year. He was born in Bari, Italy, and moved to the United States when he was 5 years old. Caputo was raised in Brooklyn and helped run his father’s fruit and vegetable store on Rockaway Avenue in Brooklyn. “He would go to school, and then go and work in the store,” said Caputo’s son, Angelo.

Caputo ran an ice and coal business, which he later gave up for health reasons, then took odd jobs for several years before becoming a night manager for A&P supermarket in Queens. After being held up at gunpoint leaving the store one night, Caputo decided to retire at age 62.

In retirement, he and his wife, Bessie, loved to travel. They took several cruises and traveled to Europe, visiting Italy and France. Each winter, they would spend a month in Florida.

They moved to the Gibson section of Valley Stream in 1978. It was there that Caputo was reunited with Ed Cahill, who served as the village’s mayor from 1999 to 2010. Cahill grew up with Caputo’s younger brother, and Caputo died on the one year anniversary of Cahill’s death.

Jack and Bessie Caputo would have been married for 75 years in December. They raised their two children, Angelo and Isabelle, in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.

In addition to his wife and children, Caputo is survived by three grandchildren, Victoria, Christopher and Brendan, and four great-grandchildren, J.J. Avery, Brigid and Annalise. Shortly before his death, there was a surprise party for Angelo, and Jack Caputo got to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who came in from Albany and Arizona, one last time before his death.

“He loved his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren,” Isabelle Caputo added. “He was always looking for stories about them.”

Caputo was an avid reader, and read one paperback book per day. Into his 90s, he would walk to the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library for books, and until his death took advantage of the library’s homebound delivery service. He was also a parishioner at St. Joseph’s Church in Hewlett and drove until he was 97 years old.

Angelo Caputo described his father as a family man, who was always there for everyone in his family.