Glen Head street renamed for civic leader who is 'unofficial mayor'

A Glen Head street has been named after an Ecuadorian immigrant who became a popular civic leader, exemplifying what town officials call an "American success story."

A crowd cheered Sunday when the "George Pombar Way" street sign was unveiled at the intersection of Glen Head Road and Roosevelt Street.

"I feel honored and humbled," said George Pombar of Glen Head, a banking executive with First Central Savings Bank who previously worked for Citigroup. "It’s not going change anything in terms of what I do [to protect] the community."

Pombar is the president of the Glen Head/Glenwood Landing Civic Council, a group that oversees eight civic organizations and represents 4,500 families in the North Shore communities.

He also served three terms on the North Shore Board of Education and founded the North Shore Concerned Citizens, a nonprofit advocacy group whose primary purpose is to jettison New York American Water.

In a ceremony Sunday, Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said Pombar is known as "the unofficial mayor of our beautiful North Shore in this town for many, many decades."

"You can go away on a vacation and a tree can fall on your home. And when you get home, George’s got it all cleaned up. That’s a true story," Saladino said, to the laughter of the crowd. "But that’s one of so many stories that speak to who George Pombar is."

Saladino went on to praise Pombar, who emigrated to the United States six decades ago from Ecuador.

"From those humble beginnings, George became a successful banking executive and an iconic civic leader in his hometown," Saladino said before addressing Pombar directly. "George, you really are the classic American success story."

Pombar said he travels past the street corner every day and felt emotional when he looks at the new sign. Even with the honor, Pombar said his work continues and he credits others for their contribution.

"I don’t do this just solely on my own, although I spend a lot of hours on this," he said. " … We have a lot of community people that work with us and help us achieve this."

With Morgan Campbell