Frank Joseph Saracino

It’s with a heavy heart we announce the passing of Frank Joseph Saracino of Westbury, NY on May 27, 2023 at the age of 90. Husband of Joan; devoted father of sons Thomas (Anne), Robert (Sandy) and daughter Laurie Winter (Ron); and seven grandchildren (Nicole, Christa, Shannon, Ryan, Danielle, Jack and Meghan). He will be forever missed and remembered.

From the mean streets of the South Bronx to the superintendency of one of the largest school districts in suburban Nassau County, what an incredible journey Frank had. Education was in his blood from the onset. Displaying academic potential at an early age, he attended Stuyvesant High School where he was an excellent student athlete and was awarded a scholarship to attend Oklahoma University. However, Frank chose to attend school closer to home and enrolled in Queens College, where he majored in history and political science and excelled on the baseball diamond where he set multiple records in the Knickerbocker Conference (and was eventually inducted in to the Queens College Baseball Hall of Fame). Frank continued his formal education by earning a master’s degree in history education from Long Island University and a doctorate in educational administration from St. John’s University (where he later served as an Adjunct Associate Professor for the Graduate School of Education for many years).

After a brief teaching stint in East New York, Brooklyn, a series of circumstances led him to take a position as a history teacher at W. T. Clarke High School in September, 1960. And thus began a 45 year career in the East Meadow School District. Besides teaching, Frank coached football, basketball and golf, was a class advisor, and one year was a finalist for “Teacher of the Year” in Nassau County. After nine years of teaching, Frank held a series of rising administrative positions before being appointed superintendent of schools in 1988. He held that position until retiring in 1995. Even a partial listing of the positive changes Frank’s superintendency brought to East Meadow is a lengthy one: the creation of two middle schools, the passing of multiple school budgets during extremely difficult financial times, school-age child care and employee day care programs, school-business and school-partnership programs, passage of a revenue-generating “hospital bill”, developing a good working relationship with political representatives and the development of an Incarcerated Youth Program at the Nassau County Correctional Facility are just a handful of accomplishments he was particularly proud of.

And if that wasn’t enough, Frank was also deeply involved with his profession and the community at large, often holding leadership positions. He was a member of Phi Delta Kappa (St. John’s), New York State Public High School Athletic Association and Section VIII (for which he was later inducted into the Long Island Sports Hall of Fame), East Meadow Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the American Association of School Administrators, and both the Nassau and New York State Council of School Superintendents. He often made presentations at conferences and workshops, and had articles published in professional journals during these years. He received over 40 professional awards during his long and illustrious career, including Man of the Year (twice by the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce and by the Jewish War Veterans), Educator of the Year three times (twice by the New York State Association of Teachers and by Phi Delta Kappa of St. John’s), the Sons of Italy Achievement Award (highest given) and both a President’s Award and Alumnus of the Year Award (St. John’s University). After retirement he also received a multitude of service awards from the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis, including the Kaiser Award from the New York State Kiwanis in 2006. That year

he also received the New York State Senate Liberty Award honoring exceptional achievement and dedication on behalf of the people of State of New York – the highest civilian award given by the New York State Senate. In his later years he also dedicated time to other entities including FIRST Robotics (helped initiate Long Island school participation), Nassau University Medical Center (Board of Directors), Nassau County Firefighters Museum and Education Center (Director) and the Town of Hempstead Housing Authority (Chairman, through December, 2022). For many years, Frank and his wife Joan also helped cook and serve hundreds of turkey dinners every Thanksgiving for the seniors in the community.

To sum it all up, Frank chose a life of community service and education where the students were always his priority. What started as a path towards educating children, became an education to all…including his family and friends to which he was truly dedicated. He set the standard of how to live a genuine and caring life that rubbed off on everyone so that the world would be a better place because Frank lived in it.

In lieu of sending flowers, please consider one of Frank’s many passions below:

· Tunnel to Towers

· Nassau University Medical Center

· Kamp Kiwanis