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"Mr. Midtown," Angelo J. Chiarella, has died
September 4, 2008
Gary Craig
Democrat and Chronicle Staff Writer
Angelo J. Chiarella, who headed the Midtown Plaza operations for almost four decades and was known as ãMr. Midtownä by many, died Thursday
in a nursing home near Albany.
Mr. Chiarella, 74, had suffered a series of strokes
in recent years.
ãI think he felt like Midtown Mall was part of his DNA, said former Rochester Mayor William A.Johnson Jr. ãHeÅd been there right from the beginning.ä
Born in Calabria, Italy, Mr. Chiarella and his mother immigrated to the United States when he was 6 to join his father and older brothers in
Brooklyn. A graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School in 1952, he was the first member of his family to attend college.
Mr. Chiarella received a degree in architecture from the University of Florida at Gainesville in 1957. There, he met his future wife, Winnifred Balch.
In 1958, Mr. Chiarella joined the New York City office of architect Victor Gruen, who designed Midtown Plaza, the first downtown enclosed mall. He was only 27 when Gruen made him the youngest associate in the firmÅs history. And ChiarellaÅs oversight of the Midtown project was so successful that he was asked to return from GruenÅs office to manage the mall.
ãHe has an infinite capacity for work and an equitable disposition that is almost incredible,ä one of his coworkers said in a 1987 Times-Union profile of Mr. Chiarella.
Mr. Chiarella left the Midtown operation in 1999 and joined a local architectural firm before the series of strokes.
Mr. Chiarella is survived by his wife, Winnifred; sons Tom, Frank and Pete (Nancy); grandchildren Gus, Walter, Cienna, Katherine, Elizabeth, Joseph; and his brother, Alfred (Marilyn) of Delray Beach, Fla.
GCRAIG@DemocratandChronicle.com
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