Mancuso, Louis

Growing up in Bethpage, Mancuso became facinated with airplanes at an early age. By working as a caddie and as a farmhand, he earned money to begin taking flight lessons when he was 15.

During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps as a lieutenant. After his discharge, he moved to Florida, where he trained British Royal Air Force students.

In 1943, his girl friend, Connie flew to Clewiston, Fla. where they were married. The married couple then moved back to Deer Park, and opened the Deer Park Airport behind his house, with land that he purchased, where he housed two Piper J-3 planes he had purchased. His eldest daughter, Juanita Collidge remembers when her father first opened the airport, which accommodated mostly four-seat single-engine Cessnas, the take offs and landings took place right in their back yard and could be viewed from the kitchen window.

It was at this airport that Mancuso began the Mid Island Flight School in 1946. In 1974 the Deer Park Airport was closed and the flight school was relocated to Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma. In 2008 his son, Lou Jr., his daughter, Gail Jensen, and grandson, Michael still operate the flight school he opened.

Having flown charters for several horse trainers and riders, Louis became interested in harness racing. He bought his first racehorse in 1954. In 1967 he traded a Cessna 337 Skymaster plane for half interest in a horse named "Rum Customer," who won the U. S. Pacing Triple Crown race a year later. With his winnings he invested in Angus cattle in Coloado and a 700-acre farm in Virginia. He later sold the farm, donating the proceeds to sponsor aviation scholarships at Dowling College in Oakdale.

Louis M. Mancuso died at the age of 88 of congestive heart illness. His wife, Connie said, "when I met him, he didn't have two nickels to rub together, but he did it - he got everything he dreamed for - all on his own." She went on to say, "this man was a jewel and a gentleman right until the end." He also had another daughter, Gloria and four other grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Louis and Connie would have celebrated their 65 wedding anniversary in September of 2008.

Information from NEWSDAY - Monday July 14, 2008 (Obituaries)