Community says goodbye to former Mayor Patrick Ungaro

By SAMANTHA PHILLIPS

sphillips@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Former Youngstown Mayor Patrick “Pat” Ungaro was a role model to many - especially his family.

He died Saturday after a long battle with cancer. He was famous in the Mahoning Valley as the Youngstown Democratic mayor who railed against organized crime and spurred economic development in the city from 1983 to 1997.

Hundreds of friends, family and state and local officials paid their respects Wednesday during his calling hours in St. Edward Church on the North Side.

Despite the somber occasion, many people laughed and smiled as they reminisced. Family pictures, campaign material from his political days, letters from state senators and a plaque with a 1983 Vindicator article proclaiming “Ungaro Wins Mayor Race” were on display.

Gina Ungaro, his oldest grandchild, said she knew about his role in the community but didn’t realize just how many people he had impacted. She counts herself among them.

“For me, I think it was looking up to someone like that as a role model and seeing how he treated people. He was so humble,” she said. “He loved what he did. He wouldn’t want any of this praise; he just did it because he loved it.”

One of the grandchildren’s favorite memories was the yearly family trips to Ocean City, Md., because the family was guaranteed to be together. A picture of the whole family during one of those trips was on display at the church.

“He had a very good sense of humor; he had a very good spirit,” Gina Ungaro said.

Former state Rep. John Boccieri grew up across the street from the Ungaros. He recalled Patrick and his wife, Theresa, taking him and their son Eric to play baseball when they were kids. He also recalled Patrick campaigning hard in his neighborhood for Youngstown’s 3rd Ward council position, in which he served five years until he became mayor.

“He was just a pillar in the community,” Boccieri said. “He was a strong person of values, grit and determination. He was the mayor during some very difficult times for our region. Folks always looked to him for strength.”

When Boccieri first thought about running for political office, he said his family advised him to talk to Ungaro first.

“Pat would say, ‘Be true to yourself. There will be tremendous temptations there to take the easy way, but that’s not the right way.’ I always appreciated that advice. I think it served me well in my political career,” Boccieri said.

George Tzagournis served with Ungaro in the Army Reserves during the Berlin Crisis. Their unit in North Carolina worked in radio communications.

“He was a quiet guy,” he said. “Everything he did, he tried real hard to do. As he grew older, he became more mature and he learned a lot. He was a pretty good mayor.”

Over the years, Tzagournis saw him at reunions, where Ungaro would give speeches.

“He was an honorable, honest person who kept his word. He always wanted to do the right thing,”

Tzagournis said.

Paul and Sallie Dutton live next door to one of Ungaro’s daughters, Candice.

“They’re a wonderful family,” Sallie Dutton said.

Paul Dutton said it was fortunate that Youngstown had him as a mayor and that Liberty Township had him as administrator – and that their neighborhood had him as a friend.

“Before Pat became mayor, we had a tremendous succession of officeholders who were ineffective, and there was a lot of corruption in Youngstown,” he said.

Youngstown Police Chief Robin Lees was a patrolman when Ungaro first took office, and was promoted to lieutenant by the time the mayor left.

“He was always behind us. You never had to worry about doing your job,” he said. “Everybody recognized his work as a public servant.”

Crystal Schultz is the mother of Sean Jr., one of Ungaro’s grandchildren. She said Ungaro welcomed her when she was dating his son, Sean.

“I came into the family when I was 19,” she said. “I was a lost 19-year-old girl, and he had reason to say, ‘Don’t date that girl,’ but it was never like that. I believed in myself because he loved me, and he showed me what I wanted for my family.”

“If you asked him what his proudest legacy was, it’s his family,” she said.

Boccieri said, “He will be missed, but his legacy will live on in his children.”

In addition to Youngstown mayor, Ungaro also helped bolster economic development as Liberty’s administrator, and he worked as a teacher, school counselor and track/football coach at The Rayen School, then a high school at Cordova and Benita avenues.

Calling hours will continue today from 10 a.m. to noon in the church, followed by a noon Mass, officiated by the Very Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Siffrin.