Agostinelli, letter carrier to stars, dies
Obit photo of Donato Agostinelli, 84, of Deer Park. Credit: Handout
Donato Agostinelli was the letter carrier to celebrities on his Manhattan postal route, but during his time off, he gave his family the star treatment.
The Deer Park man spent his days off going around the country to watch his son, Sal, play catcher in the baseball minor leagues. Savannah or St. Petersburg, he was there with his wife, Antonia, his family said.
Agostinelli died Wednesday of heart-related problems. He was 84.
"We had such a tight-knit family," said his son, a Kings Park resident and international scouting director for the Philadelphia Phillies. "Everything I do . . . they were always there. I would run a showcase for colleges and my mom would cook all the food for everybody. If I ran a summer baseball camp, my dad would sit there and make hot dogs for the kids and make macaroni and the pasta.
"I would always get down on myself and he would always be there to pick me up. He would say 'Listen, there's not always going to be great days. If you keep working hard, things will work out for you.' He was always uplifting, and it just made me get through my career."
Donato Agostinelli was born in southern Italy, outside Naples. As a young man, he was an actor in regional theater, his son said, but he was considered too short to make it big.
In 1954, he joined his father in the Bronx as a construction laborer and later foreman.
He spoke no English at the time, his son said, and that led to a sort of isolation that was far from the social, acting world he'd known in Italy.
But he always wanted to advance himself, his son said, so he took English classes at night and became a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier to the stars in Lenox Hill in the late 1960s. He had the mail of Jackie Onassis and actor Donald Sutherland.
"He used to speak to Gilligan a lot," referring to actor Bob Denver, the star of the television show "Gilligan's Island," Agostinelli recalled.
In 1973, he moved his family to Deer Park, where he also delivered mail. He retired in 1992.
He accompanied his son on trips, where other scouts liked him so much they'd come by for dinners at the Agostinelli home, his son said.
"Guys loved him because he could talk their ears off," he said. "He loved company, he loved to be around people."
Donato Agostinelli is also survived by daughter Maria-Assunta Hake of Commack and five grandchildren.
Visiting hours are from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday at Mangano Funeral Home in Deer Park. Mass starts 9:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church in Dix Hills, followed by burial at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 30: Baseball, All-Long Island and Plays of the Week! On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Gregg stops by Kings Park to check out their pitching staff and Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 30: Baseball, All-Long Island and Plays of the Week! On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Gregg stops by Kings Park to check out their pitching staff and Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week.
