Obituary of Caesar Amedeo Passannante

Caesar A. Passannante, aged 83, of Bedford Hills, New York, born on July 29, 1937 in New York, New York, and died on October 28, 2020, in Mount Kisco, New York. He is survived by his brother Gaetan, five sons, eleven grandchildren, two nieces and three nephews. He was predeceased by his sister Carmel Ann Marie Passannante (1939-2001), and his parents Anthony Passannante (1913-1986) and Mary Gloria Mongiello Passannante (1912-1978). A memorial service will be planned when pandemic conditions permit. Caesar Passannante was a project and business developer with a varied background in international and domestic manufacturing, real estate, new business development and expansion in the cable television and advertising industries. He began his career with the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1957 as a Ground Equipment Engineer on the installation of Thor nuclear warhead-equipped IRBMs in England, as well as Spain, Italy and Turkey. In England, he raced Grand Prix motorcycles as an amateur, rising to a European rank of 47. He met his first wife, Sheila Anne Gorman, while in England. In 1960, in the U.S. he worked in the family business, the largest vertical paper recycling and re­manufacturing company in the United States, and assisted in the management of seven paper re-manufacturing mills and the biggest waste paper collection operation in New York City. During this period, he also co-developed a limousine service, Fugazy Continental, co-owned and operated a New York City coffeehouse, The Café au Go-Go. He discovered, managed and booked show business personalities including jazz musicians, singers and stand-up comics, most notably Lily Tomlin and Rodney Dangerfield. In the late 1960’s he owned a retail motorcycle operation in New York, and operated an active professional motocross racing team. He helped design, and attempted to manufacture, a motorcycle with three spoke wheels and a rear monoshock, design features that would not become common until many years later. He then worked for three years as a technical and management consultant to Time, Inc., in the development of their cable television and media divisions, Sterling Manhattan Cable Television, and Home Box Office (HBO). In the 1970’s and 80s he worked as a New York loft and brownstone redeveloper. In 1991, he worked in the newly emerging economies in the former Eastern Bloc in Europe. In conjunction with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Republican Institute for Democratic Action, he worked to develop industries such as paper recycling and communications infrastructure in Romania and Bulgaria. In 1994, Mr. Passannante began the development of a new advertising medium, an illuminated rotating advertising waste receptacle then known as the AdBrite 360. In more recent years, he developed a comprehensive business plan for a manufacturer of an alcohol breath testing device; worked on a long-term contract with a consortium of local waste paper producers to supply a foreign government; developed a new domestic and international security company; and arranged the sale of an Alaskan gold mining operation to a foreign nation. He will be remembered for his charm, quick wit, and the kindness he often showed to the less fortunate. He often opened his home to new immigrants to the United States, many of whom have gone on to very successful lives and careers.