Justin Verdirame
So sorry to hear. I worked at Bikes Fantastique in Bellerose. He was so thrilled when his father, a sign painter, painted the name and logo on the windows and so disappointed when it smashed in by thieves. I went cycling with him on Sundays to Manhattan or with the LI Bicycle club, doing 60-70 miles a ride, maybe a hundred times. He wrote a letter of recommendation for me to get into college. Once we got lost in Bayonne looking for a warehouse to pick up bicycles, we drove back and forth for two hours, long before GPS.
His beat up beige VW beetle!
He had wild stories of his college days and his time at Toscanini School in SoBro. He was so dedicated to the kids when he started. I remember seeing him a few years later and and couldn't wait to finish his fifteen years "babysitting those criminals".
I will miss him very much.
Justin Verdirame