Ex-Valley Stream Mayor Dominick Minerva Sr. dies

Former Valley Stream mayor and longtime attorney Dominick M. Minerva Sr., known by his law partner and other politicians as a great legal counselor, died Monday from lung cancer. He was 71.

"He was a brilliant lawyer," said Albert A. D'Agostino, who along with Minerva established the Valley Stream-based law firm Minerva & D'Agostino P.C. in 1973. "He was a faithful and loyal friend, husband and father . . . He liked helping people."

Born on March 9, 1941, Minerva was born and raised in Brooklyn and moved to Valley Stream in the 1960s.

Later, in 1983, he moved to Lido Beach with his family, D'Agostino said.

Minerva attended Villanova University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1962. He went on to get his law degree from St. John's University in 1966.

After being admitted to the state bar in 1967, Minerva became a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in 1967-68. He was an assistant Nassau County district attorney from 1968 to 1971.

Minerva served as a Valley Stream Village trustee from 1971 to 1975, was village mayor from 1975 until 1979, and later served as the village attorney in 1983-84.

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At the time he was elected mayor, he was the youngest mayor in the state, D'Agostino said. Minerva was 34.

"I am going to miss him a great deal," said current Valley Stream Mayor Edwin Fare. "The village is going to miss him a great deal. He always cared about Valley Stream."

He added that village flags will fly at half-staff for a month in his honor.

Minerva unsuccessfully ran in 1970 and 1972 for an Assembly seat to represent Valley Stream and surrounding areas.

At the time of his death, he served as counsel for Sanitary District No. 1 in the Town of Hempstead, the Water Authority of Western Nassau County and Lawrence Public Schools.

He also served in the roles of counsel and chairman for the Nassau County Bridge Authority from 1990 until 2001.

Minerva is survived by his wife, Linda; his sons Dominick Jr., 36, of Bellmore, and Matthew, 34, of Oceanside; and one grandchild.

The funeral will be Friday at 9:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Mary R.C. Church in Valley Stream. Burial will be at Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Huntington's Disease Society of America and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.