Obituary of Peter P. Fratangelo
Peter Pascuale Fratangelo passed away peacefully at home and was lifted into the Lord's loving embrace on January 8, 2025. Peter came into this world as the first child of Michael J. Fratangelo and Rose Fratangelo (née Nacca) on March 15, 1939. Pete grew up on 32nd Street in South Brooklyn with his younger brothers Joseph and Mario, with several other extended family members on the block, in addition to numerous close friends. Pete also had several cousins on his mother's side who grew up on Kane Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, with whom Pete spent time and had lots of fun.
Pete met, fell in love with, and married his sweetheart from the neighborhood, Josephine Piotrowski. Pete was twenty and Josephine eighteen at the time, and they were married for 57 years when Josephine preceded Pete into eternal rest with the Lord. Peter and Josephine raised three children in Brooklyn: Rosemary Fratangelo, Michael Fratangelo and Peter Fratangelo, and Pete was overjoyed when his daughter-in-law Nancy, wife of Michael, joined the family.
Following high school, Pete joined the Marines and served honorably in the late 1950s. Following training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Parris Island, South Carolina, Pete was stationed at various military bases throughout the country and in West Germany. Once a Marine, Always a Marine, and Pete remained proud of his service to the United States throughout his life, remaining involved with his fellow Marines in organizations such as the Devil Dogs until his final years in New Jersey.
Pete worked a variety of jobs in his life, especially when younger. He worked in a movie theater as a teenager, at a gas station and drove a cab, worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad in New York City, then worked in the traffic department at Central National-Gottesman Corp. in New York for many decades as his main career. Pete arranged for the shipment of materials, usually wholesale paper, from paper mills to wholesale customers. In the 1970s and early 80s, Pete also worked nights at a shipping company, Bor-Air Freight. He was always a hard worker, and made many friends at work that remained good friends throughout either their or Pete's life. Pete retired in 2006 as Traffic Manager from Central-National.
In addition to his family and friends, and his career and military service, Pete had a couple of passions in his life. First and foremost were flying, raising and showing fancy pigeons. Pete's dad Mike was a pigeon flyer and introduced Pete to the birds. Pete, in turn, introduced his sons Michael and Peter to pigeons. When younger, Pete, often known as Pigeon Pete, flew birds in Brooklyn, later becoming a Master Breeder and Master Judge of Domestic Show Flight Pigeons. Pete was a member of the leading Show Flight club, the New York Combine, from the club's inception in 1976. In addition to serving as a judge, Pete was an Executive, then Senior, Vice President of the Combine, and the Publicity Director for over thirty years. Pete wrote articles about Domestic Show Flights and the New York Combine that were published in columns in various pigeon magazines. Pete also headed up the numerous efforts to create Domestic Show Flight "special" editions of these magazines.
Pete was instrumental in the development and execution of a program called Flights Around the World, designed to make high quality Domestic Show Flights available to breeders throughout the USA and the world, and to promote this breed of pigeon. Through his work on the program, Pete met people from all parts of the country and world interested in Domestic Flights, and created many great friendships. When the New York Combine started running the Big Apple Invitational all-variety pigeon show, Pete worked hard with his friends and brother members at the New York Combine to make the shows successful. Pete also traveled to pigeon shows and conventions through the country, and absolutely loved pigeons and pigeon people, including his many, many lifelong friends in the New York Combine, and around the country and world.
The other great passion of Pete was ice hockey and the New York Rangers. As he liked to say, he was the biggest Ranger fan in Brooklyn! Probably all New York. Although Pete was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan as a kid and used to go to Ebbets Field with his friends and schoolmates (sometimes with tickets, sometimes watching through the fence on Bedford Avenue), the Rangers were his life-long sports love. He started going to games at the old Madison Square Garden on 8th Avenue as a kid. Pete finally saw his beloved Rangers win the Stanley Cup in 1994, which brought great happiness after watching the team for decades.
Pete also followed and was a fan of the New York Jets, and saw them win their one Super Bowl. He liked other sports also, and was a frequent invited guest at the Heisman Trophy Presentation Dinner at the Downtown Athletic Club, where he met numerous athletes, coaches and personalities.
Pete loved having fun, had a great sense of humor, and made friends everywhere and with everything he was involved with. Pete was one of the most soft-spoken, gentle and kind persons ever, and was beloved by so many whose lives he touched throughout his life of almost 86 years. Peter is preceded in death by his parents Mike and Rose, his wife Josephine and his son Michael. He is survived by his brother Joe and sister-in-law Carol, brother Mario, his daughter Rosemary, son Peter, daughter-in-law Nancy, and niece Michelle and her husband Ralph and their children Samantha, Christina and Mathew, niece Pamela her son Joe, along with numerous cousins, their families, and friends.
Calling hours will be Tuesday, January 14 from 4:00 – 9:00 PM at Marine Park Funeral Home, Inc., 3024 Quentin Road, Brooklyn, NY.
A Mass of Christian burial will be held 10:15 AM on Wednesday, January 15 at Our Lady Of Czestochowa R.C. Church, 183 - 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Burial to immediately follow be in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to
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