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From left: James DiGiovanna Jr., Genna DiGiovanna, James DiGiovanna, Karen DiGiovanna...

From left: James DiGiovanna Jr., Genna DiGiovanna, James DiGiovanna, Karen DiGiovanna and Mia DiGiovanna in an undated photo. Credit: DiGiovanna family

Before James DiGiovanna founded a landscaping company, he was a kid dreaming of building “his own empire,” his family said, starting as a 10-year-old with a paper route and a bank account.

“You can do anything you want to achieve” was his lifelong motto.

He’d wake up at 4 a.m. daily in Great River to bike to the beach or swim, then drive his children to school — “Have a great day” he’d say on his truck loudspeaker. Beyond work, he’d fill in wherever there was a community need, perhaps train for a triathlon, and attend night meetings as a volunteer firefighter before going to bed around 10 p.m.

“He lived two days in one,” said his daughter Genna DiGiovanna, of Bay Shore.

DiGiovanna, founder of DiGiovanna Bros. Landscaping, died at age 57 on Jan. 9 from complications of pancreatic cancer surgery.

The Great River resident was a triathlon competitor, former chief of the local fire department and a car enthusiast. He was also hailed as a hero in December 2008 when a driver who lost control of her SUV crashed into the Brightwaters Canal. He jumped into the water and helped save her but later downplayed his actions.

“His whole life he just wanted to make the world a better place,” said his son, James DiGiovanna Jr., of East Islip. “He loved his community. He always wanted to do more.”

As a young dreamer, the elder James DiGiovanna delivered newspapers, rewarding himself at the end of the route with a danish, bringing home some pastry for his family. At age 13, he mowed neighbors’ lawns after school, towing his machine behind his bike. Then years later, he offered the same homes landscaping design services, his family said. He got an associate degree in accounting from Suffolk County Community College and set up his landscaping company in his mid-20s, growing his fleet to more than 25 vehicles and designing landscapes full of color.

His children were happy to be part of his business before they were 10 years old.

“He would take us into the office and be like ‘Here’s the phone, try answering the calls,’ ” recalled his daughter Mia DiGiovanna, of Great River. “I think that made us who we are today — stronger.”

Quietly generous, James DiGiovanna donated and put in plants around town, including at the Great River hamlet sign and the Islip Town Fire and EMS Museum, family and friends said. He’d use his landscaping ladder truck to decorate a church’s tall Christmas tree, and organized his fire department’s annual golf outing, putting up the banners while people slept. Sometimes, he didn’t pursue payments on jobs, saying he was just happy the yards looked vibrant.

“Any time, any day, bad weather, nice weather, you just call James and he would be there for you,” said Karen Sansone, first assistant chief of the Great River Fire Department.

DiGiovanna kept himself in shape and was a vegan, so it seemed incomprehensible to his family when he was diagnosed in February with pancreatic cancer.

For months, he didn’t tell friends, sometimes drove himself to chemotherapy and never complained, his daughter Mia said: “He didn’t want anybody to hurt for him.”

After complications from his December surgery, he still aimed to achieve better health, repeating a mantra of “My body is a machine; my body is strong.”

His family spent DiGiovanna’s last weeks at his bedside.

“No matter what, we just all wanted each other to know — the five of us — how much we were just in love with each other,” Genna DiGiovanna said, “and how we were so proud of him and how he was so proud of us.”

Besides his three children, James DiGiovanna is survived by his wife, Karen DiGiovanna, of Great River; parents, Rose Ann and Liborio DiGiovanna, of Bay Shore; and brother, Gerard DiGiovanna, of St. James.

A service was held Saturday at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Great River, followed by burial at Emmanuel Church Cemetery.

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