Greater New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce board member Richard DeMartino was awarded the chamber’s Florence Lisante Award for Outstanding Citizenship last week.
DeMartino, a past president and 18-year member of the chamber, is the third recipient of the award in the past 10 years, according to chamber President Ralph Ventura.
“We look at who has contributed to both the community and the chamber. This guy definitely deserves it. He’s the nicest guy in the world,” Ventura said, describing DeMartino as “selfless.”
Ventura presented the award to DeMartino during a chamber dinner at Uncle Bacala’s in New Hyde Park last Thursday night.
A 30-year resident of New Hyde Park, DeMartino is 2nd vice president on the board of directors of the Herricks Community Fund, a board he has served on for nine years. He is on the senior advisory board of the Academy of Finance at New Hyde Park Memorial High School, which offers students a curriculum of business courses. He is also a board member of the Floral Park Chamber of Commerce and a past board member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
DeMartino has been a member of the Sons of Italy Cellini Lodge in New Hyde Park for the past 18 years and a member of the New Hyde Park chapter of the Knights of Columbus for the past 15 years.
A veteran of the Vietnam War, DeMartino is also senior vice commander of VFW Post 120 in Garden City Park. He is a U.S. Navy veteran who served on the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga and saw action in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam conflict.
He is currently an associate group director and vice president of Signature Bank in Jericho. Prior to taking that position five months ago, he was a vice president at State Bank in New Hyde Park for 11 years. Before that, he was vice president and branch manager of EAB Bank in the Lake Success Shopping Center for 13 years.
He is co-chairman of the chamber’s Benevolent Trust Fund and a member of its golf and membership committees.
DeMartino said he was “surprised” at receiving the recognition.
“I don whatever I think should be done for the community. I feel honored. I feel that other people recognize that I’m giving back to the community,” DeMartino said.
Asked why he is so deeply engaged in community service, he said, “Since I live in the community, I should give back. Everyone should do something, even if it’s something small.”
His fellow chamber board members agreed with Ventura that DeMartino deserved to receive the award, which is named after the first woman who served as a trustee in the Village of New Hyde Park.
“There is nobody on the chamber more worthy of it. He’s a terrific guy,” past Chamber president Mark Laytin said.
“He’s super deserving of it. If we could have given him 10 awards, we would have given him 10 awards,” added Jeanette Frisina, the chamber’s 1st vice president.
The two previous winners of the Florence Lisante Award were Joseph Mazza and Edward Powers.
Mazza said he felt DeMartino deserved the award, describing him as “very friendly, very easy going and generous in his volunteering in the community.”
