Proud veteran and firefighter

Longtime Inwood resident, Navy veteran, family man, firefighter and musician Luke Magliaro Sr. died on March 3. He was 80.

Magliaro graduated from Lawrence High School in 1950 before he joined the Navy and served in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.

After the war he met his wife Patricia through his late brother Dominick who was dating Patricia’s sister. He worked for the Long Island Lighting Company, now the Long Island Power Authority, as a customer service representative until he retired in 1982.

Magliaro was honored to have been a Navy veteran and was a member of the PFC John J. Olivieri VFW Post 1582 in Inwood. “He survived Korea and a ship tragedy on the way back outside of Virginia where the ship was literally cut in half,” said son Luke Jr.

According to Luke Jr., Magliaro joined the Inwood Fire Department in 1953 and was promoted through the ranks and became captain of the engine company. “He was proud to have served,” Luke Jr. said.

Mark Magliaro, said his father was a friendly, funny and loving guy. “Not one person he met in his life didn’t like him,” Mark said. “He’s so outgoing; he made people laugh everywhere.”

Magliaro Sr. was the fourth of seven children. His younger brother Nicholas, now a Hewlett resident, reminisced about their native community. “Inwood was a nice place to grow up,” Nicholas said. “It had a good mix of everything, all different ethnic groups and it was home.”

Nicholas added that the Magliaro family was very musical. “My father was an accordion player and I, later on, picked up the guitar,” he said. “We always had music in the house, it was a lot of fun.”

Mark plays guitar and sings in the band, One Pint Down, and said his uncles, father and grandfather performed on street corners throughout the Five Towns in the 1930s and ‘40s. “All my life at family gatherings I watched my uncles play guitars and accordions and I got my love of music from them,” he said.

Nearly 20 years ago Magliaro moved to Barefoot Bay, Fla. but within the last 10 years he moved back to Inwood to be with his family. “He liked it in Florida but home was the place to be,” Nicholas said. “There comes a time when you have to come home to where your family is.”

Aside from music, Magliaro was devoted to his family. “He never put his likes first,” Mark said of his father. “He was a true family man and it rubbed off on all of us.”

Services were held on March 6 at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Inwood and a private cremation ceremony followed at Fresh Pond Crematory in Middle Village, Queens.

Magliaro is survived by his sons Richard, Mark, Michael and Luke Jr., daughter Monica, sister Audena, brothers Ralph, Nicholas and Anthony and 11 grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife Patricia, sister Mary and brother Dominick.