Ex-Riverhead Town Supervisor Joseph Janoski dies

Joseph Janoski, who served as Riverhead town supervisor a record 16 years and created the zoning that led to the shopping mecca that now exists along Route 58, has died after a lengthy battle with heart problems. He was 68.

The former Republican supervisor died Saturday at his Wading River home, according to family spokesman John Galla.

Janoski served as Riverhead supervisor from 1979 to 1995, retiring after his heart problems first arose. Earlier, he had been chief of staff for State Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) and an art teacher in the Middle Country school district.

Friends said that Janoski as town supervisor helped clean up the downtown. He also expanded the town's public drinking water supply.

But his most lasting legacy, they said, was the creation of the zoning that led to the development on Route 58, which includes the Tanger Outlet Center and other big retailers along a strip where farm equipment and cauliflower auctions were once held.

The current Republican supervisor, Sean Walter, said Janoski's vision revived the town's badly declining tax base.

"A hundred years ago, Riverhead was the shopping capital of the East End," Walter said, "and a hundred years later, we are again today."

Walter also described Janoski as a mentor who urged him to run for supervisor, a job he won last fall. "He taught me how to run a campaign," he said.

While Janoski was a talented campaign operative, Galla said the mentor always cautioned political newcomers: "It's easier to run for public office than serve in public office."

Because of his art background, he personally created a new official flag for Riverhead.

Friends said he also took a personal interest in the design of plantings and efforts to spruce up parts of the town.

"He was an extremely bright individual," said LaValle, his former boss. "He loved history and architecture; he was renaissance man."

Associates said Janoski also had a soft spot for doo-wop music and fixing old cars - he had a prizewinning 1960 Mercury convertible that he restored and it even had a Kennedy-Johnson bumper sticker.

Born in Old Forge, Pa., Janoski was an only child and raised in nearby Pittston. He graduated from Kutztown State College and moved to Long Island after seeing a newspaper ad seeking teachers.

Survivors include his son Jay, of Wading River, and a granddaughter.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Wading River. A private cremation is planned.