Remo Catalano

Our dad was born an identical twin in a small village in Italy. Although a twin, he was one of a kind. He and his brother were named after the founders of Rome in Roman Mythology and served as shepherds to the flock of sheep they owned while growing up in the mountains. He came to the United States after WWII at the age of 15. If you met our daddy, you never forgot him.

Although he was small in stature, his personality was LARGE! He is best described as a "spicy meatball". He hated injustice, rooted for the underdog, was an avid user of the "F" word, and loved his family fiercely. He was the original feminist, always pushing his daughters and granddaughters to conquer the world. He taught us how to drive stick shift, change a tire, invest in the stock market, and never take "no" for an answer.

He was wildly brilliant. He spoke Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and some Japanese. In his lifetime, he worked as an accordionist, performing all over the world with his twin, Romolo, as the duo "The Roman Twins". They gained quite a bit of fame through their national television and radio appearances, they were the 1951 American Accordionist’s Association award winners, and winners and performers on the talent shows of the day (Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, Arlene Francis, Paul Whitman, etc.). He proudly served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and worked on Wall Street. He worked for the Charles King & Co. brokerage in many roles, including arbitrage and was in charge of setting up their computer system back when computers took up an entire room. He put himself through college in his mid-40s and worked as an investigator for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission going after white collar fraud criminals. He believed that you should have a side hustle and "always be prepared" for anything. In that vein, he owned a pizza restaurant with his twin in NY, served as landlord to an apartment building he owned with his twin in Queens, drove a taxicab in Manhattan, was a licensed real estate agent and broker in Florida, owned an insurance company, and even had a CDL license to drive a commercial truck "just in case" he needed it. In his "retirement" years, he worked as a bailiff, and a child abuse investigator for the Broward County Sheriff's office.

He would always tell you the truth and could sense B.S. a mile away which made it hard to misbehave growing up as a daughter in our house. Our dad met our beautiful mom, Gladys, at a dance. The moment he saw her, he knew he had to meet her and asked for her to dance. After that first encounter, he later spotted her walking in the Bronx and immediately left a restaurant to run after her. He was married to our mom for 53 years, just days short of their 54th Anniversary, but they knew and loved each other for 62 years.

Our dad was persistent, loud, very funny, and a true fighter. He empathized with people who were feeling broken or who had been traumatized because his life was shaped by profound loss and fear. As a small child, he was torn from his wet nurse, Mamma Pasqualina, the only mother he knew until the age of 4 followed by a painful transition from homes until he was about 6. His early memories were filled with terror of Nazis scouring his childhood home looking for Allied soldiers and bombs falling on nearby towns. In his adulthood, he survived 2 armed robberies, a terrible motorcycle accident in NY and a horrific car crash on I-95 in Miami. Despite these experiences, he loved to laugh, joke around, and dance with our Mom. As our dad, he was extremely generous, tender hearted, and always focused on our well-being. He was very proud and without hesitation would tell you about his "gorgeous and bad ass granddaughters", Keegan, Neliana, Hailey, and Saoirse. He openly discussed his love of his son-in-laws, Michael Flury and Jerry O'Donoghue.

We only find solace knowing he is now an angel, reunited with his family, especially his twin Romolo, and eating figs and olives. We feel confident our dad and Uncle Romolo are already stirring up trouble in the afterlife.

- Rosanna & Susanna (his daughters)