Antonio Manuel Acosta

Antonio Manuel Acosta, of Orlando, Florida, ascended to Heaven on August 20, 2020 at the age of 83. Antonio Manuel, or Tony as he was called by many, was born in Moca, Dominican Republic as the only child of Manuel Rodriguez, a policeman, and Maria Acosta. His mother died when he was a child and he was raised by his loving maternal grandmother Francisca. When his father remarried they moved to San Cristobal, Dominican Republic where he joined a family of four step-brothers and one step-sister. San Cristobal is where he studied industrial mechanics and refrigeration and spent his adult life. He met the love of his life, Olga Hierro, September 17, 1961 and they married on August 24, 1966 in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Moca.

Having survived the rule of Trujillo in his beloved country, he dreamed of making a better life for himself and his future family, so he immigrated to the United States on February 6, 1962. He landed in Washington Heights, New York but as a self-described country boy he felt out of place in such a big city. A series of fortunate circumstances led him to find and fall in love with a small town in the Catskills called Ellenville, New York. This is where he settled with his wife, Olga, and where they raised three children for 34 years.

He was known, respected, and loved by all of the residents of this village where he worked as an electrician and plumber. He started out as an industrial mechanic for a company called VAW, then as an electrician and plumber for a family-owned business called Thornton Electric, and at the end of his productive career, he worked as a vocational instructor for exactly 18 years at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility where he taught inmates a viable trade. Upon his well-deserved retirement in 1999, he and his wife moved to Orlando, Florida where he lived the remaining 20 years of his life. He spent many hours there tending to his garden of papaya, tomatoes, peppers, oranges, avocado, lettuce, and cilantro.

Antonio was a noble, principled, and gregarious man. He fiercely loved his family and taught them, by example, the value of hard work and doing the right thing even if it was the unpopular choice. He had a wonderful sense of humor, a smile that could light up a room, and an infectious laugh. Antonio is probably best known for being the “Dominican MacGyver” because he could fix anything or make any tool with whatever material was left lying around. Antonio was a life-long student who loved to learn and got numerous certificates throughout his life - he always had an open book around him.

He is survived by his loving wife Olga, his daughter Olga Maria, son Tony Jr., and daughter Lissette Francisca, his son-in-law Travon, and his two grandchildren, Owen Mateo and Olivia Milagros. He also leaves behind his step-siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews, and many friends that he made throughout his life. He is preceded in death by his parents Manuel Rodriguez & Maria Acosta, his grandmother Francisca, and his step-mother Altagracia Lopez.

Visitation will be held at Robert Toale & Sons Funeral Home 170 Honore Ave, Sarasota Florida on Aug 26, 2020 from 11am to 12pm, with a Funeral Service to follow at 12pm. Burial will be in Palms Memorial Park at 1pm.

Funeral services will be live-streamed on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RobertToaleAndSons/

Robert Toale & Sons Funeral Home is entrusted with his final care.