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MEMORABLE WEEKEND/B3
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THURSDAY-FRIDAY, MAY 24-25, 2012
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THOMAS J. MIRABITO, SR. • 1919-2012
N SINGLE LIFE, HOW DID ONE MAN BUILD SO MUCH?
Tom Mirabito Sr. and Concetta relax in 2010 in their Sidney home on James Street, named after their son who died at age 5.
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Jim Kevlin/
Patriarch Gone, Lessons Remain For Loved Ones And For Region
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By JIM KEVLIN
SIDNEY f adversity tests character, Tom Mirabito had his tested that day in 1984. It was about this time of year, and a tanker-truck driver was unloading a delivery at Mirabito Fuel Group’s Cartwright Avenue facility, as Ken S. Paden, Tri-Town News editor/publisher who covered the event, remembers it. The driver didn’t notice the holding A young GM, Joe tank was overflowing. A spark set the Mirabito found this spilling gasoline alight, and the whole Mass card on his tank farm went sky high. desk. The lesson: That’s a body blow for any business, People matter. and any businessman, particularly one nearing retirement. But Thomas J. Mirabito Sr., who passed away Wednesday, May 2, at 93, had a career’s worth of experience dealing with situations both promising and challenging. His first reaction was: It’s a blessing that no one was killed, his son Joseph P. Mirabito, now Mirabito Energy president/CEO, related the other day in an interview in his office in the company’s extensive downtown Binghamton headquarters. Second, with part of the fleet damaged, how could the company obtain tankers in short order to ensure service to customers was Please See PATRIARCH, B4
Anyone can thrive in good times, but the 1984 fire that destroyed Mirabito Energy’s tank farm in Sidney brought out the best in Tom Mirabito Sr., who – his son Joe remembers – remained calm, was thankful there was no loss of life, and learned lessons to ensure no one would be endangered in the future.
Mirabito Energy President/CEO Joseph P. Mirabito, left, brother John and other family-member executives meet regularly under portraits of grandfather James, father Tom Sr. and Uncle Soddy.
All his life, Tom Mirabito Sr. was proud he played on Norwich High School’s “unbeaten, untied and unscored-upon” 1937 football team.
Tom Mirabito’s winning ways extended to politics, where he allied with the state’s top Republicans to move local initiatives ahead. Here he poses with Lt. Gov. Malcolm Wilson.
Schuyler Lake Blacksmith Shop Open For Business By LIBBY CUDMORE SCHUYLER LAKE
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restored, historically accurate blacksmith’s shop with a hitching post out front might have its downsides. “I just hope people don’t show up with horses looking for shoes!” joked
Gift shop opens May 26.
Bill Isaac, owner of the new Old Blacksmith Shop & Gallery. Though he won’t be shoeing horses anymore, the building will be open as an art gallery and gift shop, specializing in crafts and watercolors, on Saturday, May 26. Wood carvings and duck decoys from Jonathan Dowd, Native American pottery and basket work Please See ISAAC, B4
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Jim Kevlin/
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Bill Isaac, second from left, and his crew of Nathan Bemis, Michael Conners and Devon Gurley admired the newly renovated first floor of the former smithy.