Italian Festival Man, woman and businesswoman of the year

The Greater Youngstown Italian Festival will honor its man, woman and businesswoman of the year at the opening ceremony at 5 p.m Friday on the main entertainment stage. The honorees are:

CARMEN JOHN LEONE

Man of the year

Leone earned his bachelor of arts degree from Youngstown College in 1956, his master of arts from the University of Florida in 1958, and his Ph.D. from Kent State University in 1974.

He taught one year at Cardinal Mooney High School and seven years at Struthers High School before turning to full-time college teaching. He retired in 1991 from his position as associate professor of English/theatre arts at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He then began teaching part time at Youngstown State University, and joined the full-time faculty four years ago. He retired from YSU this June, exactly 50 years after he began teaching.

Born in 1934, Leone enjoys writing and cartooning and has a country music band . He is a member of Immaculate Conception Parish. The father of 11 children and grandfather of 19, he resides in Poland with his wife, Donna.

ANNA D’AMATO

Woman of the year

D’Amato was born in 1921 in Coalton, W.Va., the youngest child of Santo and Nazzarena Leopardi. Her mother died when she was 2. Her father was unable to care for her and her sister, Eda, so he took them to Italy so that their grandmother could care for them. Her father later remarried, and D’Amato has three half-sisters and two half-brothers.

In 1937, she married Luigi D’Amato in Sulmona, Italy, and she had her only son, Aldo, in 1944.

In 1954, she left Italy and returned to America. She worked in the Penn Ohio Towel Supply laundry room. She is known for her cooking and baking — including homemade pasta, sauce, pizza , cream puffs and polenta. She worked for Industrial Catering and Fonderlac Country Club.

She took care of her husband after he had multiple strokes. She is a member of Holy Family Church, Sulmona Valley Auxillary and the Pacentrano Women’s Auxillary. For the past few years she has been volunteering at the Italian Festival.

JAN CEFALU

Businesswoman of the year

Cefalu, a 1969 graduate of Ursuline High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from YSU.

She was a guidance counselor in West Branch schools for 13 years, and she taught at Indiana Girls School in Indianapolis.

Cefalu has been a State Farm Insurance agent since 1989. She has been an Ambassador Traveler with State Farm for the last 17 years and she was a Women’s Symposium Qualifier and a Silver Scroll Qualifier. Currently she has a State Farm office on Western Reserve Road in Poland.

She is also president and owner of Classy Coach Tours. Cefalu is a member of the Youngstown Warren Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau and the Boardman Optimist Club.

She is the daughter of Mary (LaCivita) Iannazone and Vincent Iannazone. She has been married to Vince Cefalu for 24 years.