Grace Lasalandra
January 6, 1920 — February 5, 2015
Grace M. Lasalandra, widow of the late Stamford businessman Michael J. Lasalandra, has died. She was 95.
Mrs. Lasalandra was born in Bridgeport, but lived nearly all her life in Stamford. The daughter of the late Lawrence and Mary Cocco DePaolo, she was a graduate of Stamford High school, class of 1938.
She married Mr. Lasalandra shortly after he returned from World War II and they had two sons, Michael Jr., a writer who lives in Woburn, Mass., and Frank, a sales manager at Aitoro Electronics in Norwalk. She was married to Mr. Lasalandra until his death in 2007.
Mrs. Lasalandra enjoyed music and loved to talk about her many trips as a teenager into New York City to see Frank Sinatra at the Paramount. She was a fan of most of the Italian-American singers of the 1950s but loved all kinds of music.
She assisted her husband as the bookkeeper for many of his businesses, including Glenbrook Sales, a department store he opened in the early 1950s, and Cherry Street East, a restaurant he opened in 1977 in New Canaan.
After his death and up until a few years ago she managed a shopping center he had built on the site of the former department store. She has been living at the Waveny Care Center in New Canaan for the past year.
Before moving to Waveny, she enjoyed bowling, bocce and watching the UConn women’s basketball team on TV. She also used to love to paint and was in charge of managing her high school’s class reunions up until the last one.
In addition to her sons, Mrs. Lasalandra is survived by a granddaughter, Jessica; a brother, Lawrence DePaolo; two daughters-in-law, Roxanne Lasalandra and Ann Pelli Lasalandra; a step-grandaughter, Alyssa Azziz; and several nieces and a nephew .
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Monday, February 9, 2015 at 10:30 AM at Sacred Heart RC Church, 37 Schuyler Avenue, Stamford. Interment will follow at St. John’s RC Cemetery, Darien. Family and friends may call at Nicholas F. Cognetta Funeral Home & Crematory, 104 Myrtle Avenue, Stamford on Sunday, February 8, 2015 from 3:00-7:00 PM.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Grace’s memory to the Waveny Life Care Center, 3 Farm Road, New Canaan, CT 06840
To leave online condolences, please visit www.cognetta.com
Mrs. Lasalandra was born in Bridgeport, but lived nearly all her life in Stamford. The daughter of the late Lawrence and Mary Cocco DePaolo, she was a graduate of Stamford High school, class of 1938.
She married Mr. Lasalandra shortly after he returned from World War II and they had two sons, Michael Jr., a writer who lives in Woburn, Mass., and Frank, a sales manager at Aitoro Electronics in Norwalk. She was married to Mr. Lasalandra until his death in 2007.
Mrs. Lasalandra enjoyed music and loved to talk about her many trips as a teenager into New York City to see Frank Sinatra at the Paramount. She was a fan of most of the Italian-American singers of the 1950s but loved all kinds of music.
She assisted her husband as the bookkeeper for many of his businesses, including Glenbrook Sales, a department store he opened in the early 1950s, and Cherry Street East, a restaurant he opened in 1977 in New Canaan.
After his death and up until a few years ago she managed a shopping center he had built on the site of the former department store. She has been living at the Waveny Care Center in New Canaan for the past year.
Before moving to Waveny, she enjoyed bowling, bocce and watching the UConn women’s basketball team on TV. She also used to love to paint and was in charge of managing her high school’s class reunions up until the last one.
In addition to her sons, Mrs. Lasalandra is survived by a granddaughter, Jessica; a brother, Lawrence DePaolo; two daughters-in-law, Roxanne Lasalandra and Ann Pelli Lasalandra; a step-grandaughter, Alyssa Azziz; and several nieces and a nephew .
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Monday, February 9, 2015 at 10:30 AM at Sacred Heart RC Church, 37 Schuyler Avenue, Stamford. Interment will follow at St. John’s RC Cemetery, Darien. Family and friends may call at Nicholas F. Cognetta Funeral Home & Crematory, 104 Myrtle Avenue, Stamford on Sunday, February 8, 2015 from 3:00-7:00 PM.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Grace’s memory to the Waveny Life Care Center, 3 Farm Road, New Canaan, CT 06840
To leave online condolences, please visit www.cognetta.com
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Grace Lasalandra, please visit our flower store.