Former Yonkers Mayor Angelo Martinelli died at the age of 91 on Oct. 27. Martinelli, a Republican who served as mayor from 1974 to 1979 and from 1982 to 1987, was the city’s longest serving mayor.
“Our hearts are saddened today,” current Mayor Mike Spano said in a statement. “We have lost a great man, a selfless public servant and a beloved father and grandfather. Mayor Martinelli is synonymous with Yonkers in every way and his contributions to our city, like his legacy, will live on forever.”
Spano credited Martinelli with reactivating the Yonkers Police Athletic League, re-constituting the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, conceiving the Putnam Rail Line, starting the first annual holiday celebrations in Getty Square, bringing the Yonkers Marathon back to the city, and founding the Yonkers Farmers Market.
Last year, Spano presented Martinelli with the city’s first-ever lifetime achievement award. Martinelli was also honored earlier this year with a large bronze plaque inside Metro-North’s Yonkers Station, in recognition of the role he played in the renovation of the station and in the designation of Yonkers as an Amtrak stop.
Martinelli was portrayed by actor Jim Belushi in the 2015 HBO miniseries “Show Me a Hero,” which focused on the late-1980s battle over desegregation in Yonkers.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
