Former Cedarhurst Mayor Nicholas Farina, 97, dies

In numbers alone, Nicholas A. Farina was an imposing figure in the history of Cedarhurst.

For 25 years, he was mayor of the village on Nassau County's South Shore. For 32 years, he was principal of the Number 5 elementary school. For a decade, he was a championship football coach at Lawrence High School.

But to friends - and village residents - Nick Farina was a kind man who cared deeply about his community.

Farina, 97, died Jan. 25 in Grand Junction, Colo., where he had lived since leaving Cedarhurst in 1995.

"I remember him as my civics teacher at Lawrence High, in 1940 or '41," said Mayor Andrew Parise, 85, who replaced Farina as village mayor in 1995 and still holds the position. "He was just such a great guy."

After Parise graduated from high school and served in World War II, he returned to Cedarhurst.

"When I got out of the service in 1945, we sort of met again," Parise said, "and he encouraged me to join the Kiwanis."

That started a 55-year friendship, as both men joined numerous civic, church and community groups.

"I never recalled going to any function without him at the table," Parise said. "It was just like father and son."

One of nine children, Farina grew up in Steelton, Pa., just outside Harrisburg, where he was a high school football standout.

He went to Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., where he was a three-year football letterman at center and linebacker, including team co-captain in 1933, according to biographical information in the school's sports hall of fame, to which he was inducted in 1985.

After graduating in 1934, Farina coached the Lawrence High School team from 1936 to 1945. Although Newsday records date only to 1946, other sources have Farina's Lawrence teams posting four unbeaten seasons, including Nassau County and Long Island championships.

"He was a tough coach," Parise said, "but well respected by his players."

Parise said Farina felt an almost unmatched responsibility to community.

"As mayor, every morning he would walk the village," he said. "No matter who he'd met, he'd have a kind hello and ask them how things were."

Parise, who also was a village trustee, remembers meeting Farina for coffee nearly every morning at Village Hall to discuss current events.

"He cared," Parise said. "That's the kind of guy he was."

Farina's wife of 73 years, Kitty, died in November, Parise said.

Farina is survived by twin sons, Terrance Farina, of Grand Junction, Colo., and Thomas Farina, Lynbrook; seven grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.