Leonard Caruselle

Tompkinsville native Leonard J. Caruselle, 85, the retired owner of a Port Richmond car dealership and the loving patriarch of three generations of family, died Sunday at his home in Whiting, N.J.

Mr. Caruselle could trace his Staten Island roots back to 1880. He was the 12th of 13 children and lived almost all his life in his native community until 2007, when he and his wife,Connie, moved to a retirement community in Whiting.
A graduate of Curtis High School, he attended Wagner College, Grymes Hill.


Mr. Caruselle served in the U.S. Army, a bookkeeper stationed stateside at Fort Dix, N.J., during the Korean War era.
He began his business career as a bookkeeper for the former Staten Island Volkswagen, Dongan Hills, and had risen to the position of general manager before leaving in 1979 to open his own dealership.

Mr. Caruselle owned and operated DTV Imported Cars, Port Richmond, until 1999, when he retired and passed the business to his son, Nicholas.

A hardworking and loving family man, Mr. Caruselle enjoyed bowling and vising Atlantic City in his leisure time.

Surviving, along with Connie, his wife of 61 years, and his son, Nicholas, are his sons, Leonard A. and Dean; his daughter, Lenora Brooks; 10 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be Wednesday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, with a mass, time to be determined, in St.Thomas the Apostle R.C. Church, both Tottenville. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.

Services: St. Thomas the Apostle RC Church Wednesday , April 30, 2014 10:30AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Tuesday, April 29, 2014 2-4 & 7-9PM

Cemetery: Resurrection Cemetery (Staten Island)

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: St. Thomas The Apostle RC Church