Dan's Papers - May 9, 2008 - East Hampton Legend Salvadore Iacono, 79

Salvadore Iacono's ethic was of hard work and service to East Hampton for most of his 79 years. His passing on Wednesday, April 30, from medical complications caused by a hip operation that resulted in a blood clot, is a great loss to his family and the thousands of East Enders who knew him and frequented his unique farm store. Many in the town expressed their condolences to Sal's wife Eileen, and the rest of the Iacono family.

Salvatore Iacono was born on Long Lane in East Hampton on April 5, 1929. (He later changed his name to Salvadore.) His sister "Jo" (Josephine) Iacono said her brother, "Had a wonderful sense of humor, and was a hard working boy all his life." In fact, she added, "Sal didn't know any vacation, he was always working."

Sal's father, Emmanuel Iacono, emigrated from Palermo, Italy to New Jersey, then came to East Hampton in the early '20s to raise his family. Sal was the youngest of the six children of Emmanuel and Cologera Iacono. Sal's sister Mary, still living on East Hampton's Long Lane where she was born 83 years ago, spoke about her younger brother with tremendous love and affection. She recalled the days when their father would drive all night to New York City in order to bring their farm vegetables to Washington Market in the "Big Brockway" truck, with young Sal sleeping on straw in the back. "Sal would go all the way with Dad just so he could get a New York City hotdog," recalled Jo. In the early days, Jo and Sal went to school at what is now the East Hampton Middle School on Newtown Lane. "Back then it had all 12 grades," said Jo, who after school and during the summer would go door to door in the village to market the family's farm produce. They also had a vegetable stand on Long Lane where the famous Iacono Poultry Farm is today. Jo recalled, "Sal never really sold the vegetables. He always worked around the chickens. I remember him building the coops and taking care of the chickens, which, back then, Dad sold from an ice box on the truck."

Sal's older brother John and older twin sisters Jennie and Angeline helped out, but it was Mary who usually worked the food stand. Later on, Sal was given the job of assisting in the slaughtering of the chickens. As Jo put it, that method was, "a primitive way compared to the way it is done now."

With his wife Eileen, Sal had three children (Sue Cassel, Cathy Tomasso, and Anthony) and eight grandchildren. Anthony Iacono, who now runs the chicken farm, graduated from the first graduating class of East Hampton High School now located on Long Lane just yards from the farm. Before the school was built the land was a potato farm owned by the Tiskas. In fact, back in the day Long Lane was all potato farms. Jo recalled watching Charlie Swank's laborers work the 80-100 acres across from the Iacono Farm with hand plows and horses. The Swank farm stretched from Long Lane to Route 114. Sal developed the farm into the chicken business it is today. Usually there are anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 chickens to be slaughtered and sold. The fresh eggs at the Iacono farm are legendary, as was Sal. So many customers over the years came by just to banter with Sal before buying the best tasting chicken on the East End of Long Island.

I encountered Sal many times over the years, as he was weighing up the many chickens I bought at the farm. I will never forget his explanation for weighing the chicken with the feet still on. "They are part of the chicken," he said. As I thought about eating them, I asked him to please remove them after weighing the bird.

The Iaconos are well respected for the work ethic that Sal passed on to his family, the same ethic his dad passed on to him. The idea of a boy walking home from school down Newtown Road to Long Lane, back in the late '20s and early '30s, as the children today still do, the vision of a boy mending chicken coops with chicken wire on a hot summer evening along with the sounds of clucking chickens are a part of Salvadore Iacono's legacy. And there's the image of a boy sleeping behind his dad in a big Brockway truck, bringing the farm products to market in New York City, rewarded with the simple reward of a hot dog from a cart. Simple pleasures. It's what Sal Iacono lived for, and what he provided us all.