Former Hempstead deputy parks commissioner, Nassau OTB chair Joseph Bentivegna, 92

Joseph Bentivegna, former deputy commissioner of the Town of Hempstead Department of Parks and chairman of the Board of Nassau County Off-Track Betting, died June 10 from several health complications. He was 92 years old. 

Bentivegna — whom friends called "Joe B." — was a mainstay in the Levittown community, a dedicated parks worker  who liked playing scratch-off lottery and spending weekends camping at local beaches and upstate, according to his family. 

"He was a community guy who would really do anything for a neighbor or his kids — he had a huge heart," said his son Joseph, also of Levittown and a retired employee of the Hempstead parks department. "Everyone knew him. He would talk to everyone, it was just his personality."

Up until his final months, the elder Bentivegna took daily walks to the 7-Eleven or the Jelly Bean convenience store in Levittown to buy a lottery ticket, playing a variation of the same numbers. His decades-long routine was so familiar that when he was no longer able to buy the tickets himself, his granddaughter went to the store for him — not knowing the numbers — and the clerks plugged them into the computer on his behalf. 

"He always played the same numbers — of course I don't know what they were," his son said.

He started as a laborer with the parks department, rising through the ranks over several decades.

In his early years, he worked a second job in the evenings to support his family, which included his wife and three sons.

His sons would walk home from school and see their father riding a lawn mower, cutting the grass at a nearby park, they recalled.

"When we were kids we really had to watch what we did in the parks because our dad was always around," the younger Bentivegna joked.

Bentivegna became close friends with the late Joseph Mondello, who lived around the corner in Levittown. Mondello was an attorney, former Town of Hempstead supervisor and chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee for three decades before becoming a U.S. ambassador in the Trump administration. He died in August .

Nassau GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo said Bentivegna "embodied the heart and soul of the Republican Party in Nassau. He was a main part of our committee and just an all-around good guy. We have a lot of good memories of him."

Each Sunday, Bentivegna's sons and their families had dinner at the family home, one of the original Levittown houses. Bentivegna purchased the house in the early 1950s and spent his final hours there.

Born March 17, 1931 to Italian immigrants Pasquale Bentivegna, a shoemaker, and Rose Guzzardo, Joseph Bentivegna was the youngest of four children and grew up in Elmont.

He attended Elmont public schools, his son said, and in 1951 married Catherine Dixon of Franklin Square. They were married for 68 years until Catherine's death three years ago, according to the family.

In addition to his son, Joseph, Bentivegna is survived by his two other sons, Patrick and Thomas, both of Levittown, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.