Anthony Napolitano passes away

Anthony Napolitano. Photo courtesy the Napolitano family

 

Anthony Barberto Napolitano, a longtime Manhattan Beach resident and the father of Councilperson Steve Napolitano, passed away on Nov. 27. He was 92. 

His son spoke of him at the close of Tuesday night’s council meeting, which adjourned in memory of both Napolitano and former Manhattan Beach police chief Hugh O’Brien. 

Napolitano, who struggled to speak through a head cold throughout the meeting, took a deep breath before he spoke. “As if I’m not blubbering enough with this cold,” he said. 

“I will never know a greater man than my father,” Napolitano said. “He always maintained he wasn’t anybody, just an ordinary guy. He was anything but, always putting his family first and giving us all the opportunities that he forsaked for himself. He was born and raised in Maine, served his country in Korea, graduated from college on the G.I. Bill and then came to California because that was the thing to do back then. He got a job in aerospace during the space race, where he met my Mom and cleaned up at pool tournaments when they used to hold them at Ercoles. He was a regular at American Martyrs and the most decent guy you’d ever meet. He loved his wife to no end, who was with him at the end.” 

Napolitano wrote nearly identical words in a Facebook post the day of his father’s passing, with a slightly different closing. 

“I post this to sing a song for him, a song for the unsung, for all those decent, hardworking fathers who willingly sacrifice everything for their families for no other reason than because they love them,” he wrote. “I love you Dad, God Speed.”

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