Luke LiCalzi, veteran and engineer, dies

Luke LiCalzi, an engineer who consulted on hundreds of commercial and residential developments on Long Island and served as chairman of the Town of North Hempstead Housing Authority, died Friday at his Manhasset Hills home.

The cause was cancer. He was 87.

LiCalzi was born in Manhattan in 1923 to Italian immigrant parents and raised in the Bronx. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School and received a civil engineering degree from City College of New York under the GI Bill, his family said. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Austria and Germany, building pontoon bridges and roads.

He married his sweetheart Marie Quaranta in 1945, four days after V-J Day. The couple would have five children.

LiCalzi became an associate in the firm Victor Mayper Consulting Engineers after earning a master's in engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. In 1970, he founded his own consulting firm, Luke LiCalzi P.E., P.C. in Manhattan, which continues to operate under the watch of his son, Mark of Manhattan. Mark LiCalzi said the firm will keep his father's name.

"It is through dad's industry reputation as an experienced, thorough and trusted engineer that the firm continues to thrive after so many decades," he said.

Luke LiCalzi contributed to the structural design of such landmarks as 666 Fifth Ave. and Madison Square Garden, his family said. He would go on to consult with banks and equity lenders on countless commercial and residential developments on Long Island, including the Hamlet at Wind Watch, Hamlet Golf and Country Club, The Meadows at Harborfields and The Meadows at Ridge.

Pamela LiCalzi O'Connell of Port Washington, LiCalzi's daughter, said growing up as a "city boy" may have led her father to his chosen career.

"He grew up in Manhattan and the Bronx and he was fascinated by buildings," she said. "His profession was both his vocation and his avocation."

LiCalzi and his wife Marie, who for decades oversaw the financial side of her husband's firm, were among parishioners who helped establish Notre Dame Roman Catholic Church in New Hyde Park in the 1950s.

He also coached youth baseball and basketball and in recent years served on North Hempstead's Housing Authority. He was the authority's board chairman for several years.

"His legacy is his extraordinary family, the world of good he has done for his community and his standing in the professional engineering community within which he prospered," town Supervisor Jon Kaiman said. "Luke LiCalzi was a good man and I am honored to have known him."

Other survivors include son Luke LiCalzi of Garden City and Greg LiCalzi of Celebration, Fla., daughter Jacqueline LiCalzi of Manhattan, 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

LiCalzi's funeral mass is being held Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. at Notre Dame Roman Catholic Church in New Hyde Park.