Anita Romano

Anita Romano, the first woman to serve as a commissioner in Suffolk County government, died on Thursday, October 9 of pulmonary fibrosis at her home in Eastport. She was 85.

Mrs. Romano was born in New York City on June 8, 1923, to Louis and Sophie Wachtel. She married Eugene R. Romano Sr. and together they raised eight children.

She acquired her real estate license after her fourth child was born in order to assist her husband in his construction business. She resumed her education after her youngest child was out of diapers.

Mrs. Romano attended Suffolk County Community College at night from 1961 to 1968 where she completed an associate’s degree in accounting. She continued her education while raising her family and holding positions of increasing responsibility in Suffolk County government. She earned a bachelor’s degree in finance at Southampton College in 1972, and a master’s degree in public administration from CW Post Campus of Long Island University in 1979.

For 20 years, she held various positions in Suffolk County government. From 1964 to 1968, she served in the Department of Audit and Control, and in 1968 she was appointed bursar of Suffolk County Community College, a position she held for five years. She then served as both the assistant budget director and federal and state aid coordinator in the office of the County Executive. In 1981, she became deputy commissioner of Social Services and in 1983, she accepted the appointment of commissioner, the first woman commissioner in Suffolk County.

Mrs. Romano retired from that position in January, 1985, after 18 months, but moved on to further endeavours. She received the Suffolk County Community College Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1983 and was honored as Woman of the Year by the South Bay Business and Professional Woman’s Club in 1984. She held multiple terms on the Three Village School Board, the only elected position she ever held. In addition, she had a private accounting business from 1967 to 1974 for small business and tax returns.

After retiring from Suffolk County, she continued to work for a consulting firm as a financial expert dealing with municipalities and their social service agencies and their cost allocation plans all over the country.

At the age of 70, she came out of retirement to become comptroller for the Town of Huntington. Family members recall Mrs. Romany saying, “I’ve come to the conclusion that no one should really retire. We all have a deep seated need to be productive”.

In keeping with her philosophy, she continued to be productive by becoming the general manager for two years of the Olde Speonk Inn which was owned by her grandson, Brian Romano.

Mrs. Romano moved to various locations on Long Island. She and her young sons started out on Red Creek in Hampton Bays in a summer cottage with no electricity or running water, while her husband was serving in the military during World War II. They moved to Flanders, Westhampton and then Stony Brook. In 1989 she moved to Cary, North Carolina to be closer to her brother, Maurice and his wife Peggy, but moved back to Moriches in 1992 and finally Eastport, because she missed her family.

According to family members, she will be remembered for her never ending love for them, spending time with her dogs, Long Island and its surrounding waters, and traveling.

She is survived by her ex-husband, Eugene R. Romano Sr. of Southampton; two sons, Dennis Romano of Westhampton and Eugene Romano Jr. and his wife Barbara of Lancaster, Pennsylvania; six daughters, Linda Wetter and her husband Robert of Southampton, Nancy Winters and her husband Wesley of Westhampton, Anita Romano of Middle Island, Andrea Romano and her husband Rogerio Nogueira of Van Nuys, California; Catherine Romano and her partner Paul Ebbets of New York City, and Yvonne Watterson of Eastport, who lived and cared for her mother the last two years of her life; 12 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.

No funeral services were held.

At Ms. Romano’s request, her ashes will be spread over the Atlantic Ocean next summer.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the American Lung Association of New York, 116 John Street, New York, NY 10038 for the research of pulmonary fibrosis would be appreciated by the family.