Nov. 14, 1935 – Dec. 2, 2020
At 5 feet, 2 inches, Blase J. LaDuca was larger than life, said his daughter Michelle Mathews.
He was the unofficial mayor of Buffalo’s West Side and Canada’s Crystal Beach, where his family spent the summers, she said.
“I once heard our dad say out loud but to himself, ‘How did a kid from the West Side, who did not finish high school, end up as lucky as me?’ This was said as he looked at the beautiful beach in front of him. He considered the 44 years spent on that deck in Crystal Beach as the happiest times of his life,” Mathews said in an online tribute to her father.
He worked three jobs at a time so the family could afford the summer-long "privilege," said his daughter Cheryl in the tribute.
“We would be walking halfway up the driveway on the last day of school – the car would be packed and running – and we would be whisked away for the summer,” Cheryl said.
Mr. LaDuca died Dec. 2 at Autumn View Health Care Facility in Hamburg due to Covid-19. He was 85.
Born Nov. 14, 1935, in Buffalo, Mr. LaDuca attended Grover Cleveland High School.
His West Side roots and Sicilian heritage were a source of tremendous pride, his family said.
He was a member of the Per Niente Club of Buffalo, a social club that embraces the history of the local Italian-American experience.
And he appeared in two local documentary films about Western New York’s Italian heritage.
The first was 2007’s "La Terra Promessa [The Promised Land]," which was produced by the late Joseph G. Giambra, said Angelo F. Coniglio, a longtime friend of LaDuca. The men had known each other since the 1950s.
Mr. LaDuca also appeared in the 2013 sequel, "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," Coniglio said.
He worked for 30 years at AM&As, turning what would seem to be a job into a career, Mathews said. He kept a journal dating back to 1964, listing his sales and commissions. The goal was to outperform the results of the day from the previous year. He retired in 1988.
Mr. LaDuca regaled old friends with stories of the West Side and about his days as the “rock” of the AM&A’s Menswear department, Coniglio said.
Mr. LaDuca married the former Joan A. Mancuso in 1955. She predeceased him in 1998, shortly before their 43rd wedding anniversary.
Also surviving are one brother, Salvatore “Sam;” one sister, Mary Ann Dietrick; seven grandchildren and his companion, JoJo LaMantia.
He was predeceased by two sons, Blase R. and Michael.
