Andrew Manzo, longtime Farmingdale podiatrist, dies at 93

Across 64 years of practice in that village, Dr. Andrew Manzo became “Farmingdale’s podiatrist,” according to family and friends.

“I never failed to run into people who said, ‘Oh, your dad was my dad’s podiatrist’ or their uncle’s or whoever’s podiatrist.” said his son, also named Andrew Manzo. “He was here a long time, and Farmingdale, it’s a close-knit community.”

And the foot doctor was a tightly woven part of it. A co-founder of the local Kiwanis Club, he held positions from board member to president, and served for a year as lieutenant governor of the northern Long Island division of the parent organization, Kiwanis International. When he joined the village’s St. Luke's Lutheran Church, “He jumped in with both feet,” quipped his son. “He was an altar server and an usher. He wasn’t the kind to fade into the back. He liked to help and participate.”

Staying active, Manzo, who died at the St. Johnland nursing facility in Kings Park on March 29 at age 93, of natural causes, did not retire until 2019, well into his 80s. “He was about a month shy of his 94th birthday, and he was still gone too soon,” said his godson, psychologist Andrew Vaughan, of Greenlawn, whose late father was Manzo’s best friend. “He's the guy I thought would simply always be there.”

Andrew Albert Manzo was born May 3, 1931, in New York City, the youngest of four children of Italian immigrants Andrea “Andrew” Manzo, a jeweler, and Carolina Prisco Manzo, who ran the home. His father died of a heart attack in 1941 and his elder brother Francis four years later in World War II combat.

“So at that point, still in high school” at Cardinal Hayes in the Bronx, where he graduated in 1948, “my dad had to help take up responsibility for his mother,” whose two daughters were grown and out of the house, his son said. Doing so he developed his lifelong unflappable demeanor of “staying calm and just dealing with things.”

He went on to earn a bachelor of science degree from New York University in 1952, and his podiatry degree from what was then the Long Island University College of Podiatry, now Touro University’s New York College of Podiatric Medicine, in 1955. He opened a practice in Farmingdale that year, commuting from New York until moving to that village 10 years later, when he relocated his storefront office to an office at his newly built house.

He had married Margaret Haider on May 26, 1956. “They renewed their vows four times” during their nearly 69 years of marriage, their son said. The couple, who moved to senior housing in Bethpage in 2020, had three children.

The same year he married, Manzo was part of a group that founded the Farmingdale chapter of the Kiwanis Club. Serving various leadership roles with that civic organization, he worked on such projects as food and clothing drives, installing Main Street flags for Memorial Day and other holidays, and having the chapter host the National Junior College Wrestling Tournament in 1961. His wife was active in the sister organization, the Kiwanettes.

He also was a member of professional organizations including what is now the American Podiatry Association. For decades he taught one day a week at his podiatric alma mater.

Working from home for most of his practice, “He had basically the bottom floor,” his son said. “That made it easier for him to come to our events if we had a concert or a baseball game or something. And if we were home sick from school, he would pop up at lunchtime.”

“He was a kind soul,” Vaughan said. “And don't forget, he was from an era when men were a little rough around the edges. But he was a kind guy even back then.”

In addition to his son, of West Babylon, and his wife, Manzo is survived by his daughters, Linda Terranova, of West Babylon, and Diane Burger, of California; eight grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter. His older sisters, Geraldine and Lydia, died before him.

Visitation was held on April 3 at McCourt & Trudden Funeral Home in Farmingdale. Followed by a service at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church the next day, he was interred at Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery in Massapequa. Donations may be made to his church.