This past June, our community lost a wonderful loving guy, Anthony Annunziato. Owner and operator of the well-known Catfish Annie’s of Commack, Tony was a larger-than-life personality. Growing up on the streets of Brooklyn, Tony always spoke his mind. Sometimes you liked what he had to say and sometimes you didn’t. For me, that was probably the one quality I loved most about him. He was real.
When I heard the news of Tony’s passing, I was devastated. Though he was a customer of mine, he meant so much more to me than that. A 33-year relationship that at times was a battle of wits that later on developed into a mutually caring and respectful relationship. As fellow business owners, we used to share our day to day challenges. Whenever I was down, Tony always managed to pick me up and reminded me that family always kept everything in perspective.
I know how much family meant to him and how beloved he was by them. Tony and his wife Kathleen owned their first fish market in Farmingdale back in 1972. They opened Catfish Annie’s in 1977 and have been running it successfully ever since. The Annunziatos raised three children, that has given them a beautiful life with and a growing family of grandchildren. Tony’s love for his children and grandchildren was immeasurable. This is his legacy.
His staff became his family, many of which have been with him for 20 and 30 years and was very proud of the business Kathleen and himself had built.
Anthony Annunziato was a good man, a hard working man and a beloved man by all that had the privilege of knowing him. Till this day Catfish Annie’s traditions go on serving up the freshest of seafood. Thats what Tony would have wanted.
God give the Annunziato family strength to carry on and may his memory be a blessing.
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