Staten Island small business owners honored virtually at Louis Miller Awards
Updated Feb 25, 2021;
Posted Feb 25, 2021
Composite image of photos of the seven 2021 Louis R. Miller Business Leadership Awards recipients. From left, clockwise: Shawn J. Stradford Sr. (President/CEO, Stradford Home for Funerals and Cremations, Inc.); Dr. Karen DiBona and Dr. Mark Scamardella (Dental Partners, DiBona & Scamardella Dental Studio); Dean L. Balsamini (Regional Director, The Small Business Development Center at CSI); Lakruwana Wijesinghe (Owner, Lakruwana Restaurant); Susan Fenley (Executive Director, Sundog Theatre Inc.); Thomas J. Hall, Esq. (Partner, The Law Firm of Hall & Hall LLP). Individual photos courtesy of Dom Provenzano/Staten Island Chamber of Commerce (Staten Island Advance/Giavanni Alves)
David Mercaldo, deeply involved in Staten Island arts scene, dies at 74. A local Renaissance man, he was teacher, writer and actor.
Updated Jan 13, 2021;
David Mercaldo, 74, a former Oakwood resident who combined teaching, writing, acting and even a little politics into a rich and rewarding career and whose kindness and generosity were admired by friends and family, died Jan. 9 in Harrisburg (Pa.) Hospital of complications from pancreatic cancer.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, Dr. Mercaldo graduated from Martin Van Buren High School, where he was elected president of the senior class. He followed in his older brother’s footsteps by earning a bachelor’s degree from Central Bible College in Springfield, Mo., and later completed a master’s degree at the former Richmond College, now the College of Staten Island, and a doctoral degree from the former Columbia Pacific University.
Rev. Dr. Daniel Mercaldo, the charismatic minister who founded Gateway Cathedral, dies. He was 81.
Updated Feb 04, 2021;
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They gathered in private homes, an American Legion post, and even the basement of a bank. For 16 new Staten Islanders back in 1965, prayer, not the meeting place, mattered most.
They would become the first congregants of today’s Gateway Church in Richmond Valley, inspired by a charismatic young minister destined to be a force in the borough’s spiritual community.
The Rev. Dr. Daniel Mercaldo, 81, Gateway’s founder and senior pastor for more than five decades who dedicated his life to helping others navigate challenges and celebrate successes, died Jan. 7 in NCH Baker Hospital, Naples, Fla.