Joseph Russo

Joseph Russo, 70, of Silver Lake, a well-known business owner and a devoted father and grandfather, died Saturday in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, of pancreatic cancer.

The youngest of six children, he was born and raised in Spinoso, outside of Naples, Italy, where he went to school to be a mechanic.

He was a teenager when he immigrated to the United States in 1961, moving to Brooklyn with only 25 cents in his pocket and a vision of becoming a successful entrepreneur. A quick study, he worked for service stations for 10 years, and by 1971 was able to open his first business on Staten Island, Crazy Joe's Auto Sales and Service on Cary Avenue in West Brighton.

His mother, Anna Russo, began calling him "Crazy Joe when he was 11 years old, because he could build or fix anything out of practically nothing, and the affectionate nickname stuck, family said.

Mr. Russo was outgoing and had a good sense of humor. He always enjoyed interacting with his customers, mixing business with fun.

Staten Island has lost one of its most colorful personalities, said Ron Semler of Artie's Auto Parts in West Brighton.

Mr. Russo worked hard, and he cared about his community.

He was a good person, a good businessman, and he really cared about the West Brighton area, said Wendy Whiteside of Dandy Auto Supply, also West Brighton.

Mr. Russo opened many businesses, including a used car lot in the late 1970s, and a pizzeria and ice cream shop in 1981, both on Forest Avenue, a Hertz Penske Trucking company and a limousine company in the 1980s. In 1997 he opened an Italian restaurant, New York, New York, in Virginia Beach.

He was a trustworthy individual. He took a closed Sunoco gas station on Clove Road and built it into a West Brighton empire. There are probably more Crazy Joe license-plate holders on Staten Island cars than any other company's, said Michael Manzulli, chairman of Richmond County Savings Bank.

Those Crazy Joe license frames have been sighted as far away as California and even Europe, according to Mr. Russo's family.

And while business was very important, his family always came first. In 2012, he went upstate to help his son, Michael, build a restaurant, The Country Kitchen, and he recently gave financial backing for The Cake Artist in Dongan Hills, the baking enterprise founded by his grandson, Vincent Buzzetta.

Mr. Russo loved family gatherings like dinner at his daughter's home, surrounded by relatives. For Sunday meals, tradition included his going to the pork store for antipasto, and to Melone Brothers for Italian bread with his son-in-law, Robert Picciano.

He enjoyed going to auctions and buying anything from cars to women's footwear, and also liked gardening.

He touched the lives of many through his generosity toward those in need, especially at Christmas, and he never said no to charities involving children.

'Crazy Joe' as we knew him was a true humanitarian, said Al Maiorano, a former NYPD officer who now works in the state attorney general's office. He donated $10,000 to Food for Guns, to be used for supermarket gift certificates in the effort to buy back guns and get them off the street. A person like Joe comes around only once in a lifetime.

Mr. Russo was a devout Catholic and a truly spiritual man, ajd a highlight of his life was meeting Pope John Paul in Rome in the 1990s.

Mr. Russo was the life of every party and enjoyed being at the center of things. His smile would light up the room and you could not forget him, family said.

Surviving, along with his son, Michael, and grandson, Vincent, are his daughter, Cammy Russo-Picciano; his brothers, Vincent and Dominick; his sisters, Antoinetta Rocco, Rose Musitano and Anna Vitolo, and four more grandchildren, Kristen Buzzetta, Robert Picciano and Isabella and Gianna Russo.

The funeral will be Friday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville, with a mass at 11 a.m. in Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church, West Brighton. Burial will follow in Moravian Cemetery, New Dorp.

Services: Blessed Sacrament RC Church Friday, March 14, 2014 11:00AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Wednesday, March 12, 2014 & Thursday, March 13, 2014 2-4:30 & 7-9:30PM

Cemetery: Moravian Cemetery

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Blessed Sacrament RC Church