BY M. JUNAID ALAM
A graduate of Columbia University and an Air Force officer who mapped out bombing targets in the Pacific theater of operations during World War II, Marcone leaves behind his wife of 51 years, Jean; his son, Donald; and his daughter, Jeanie.”He was a gentleman in the finest sense,” said Jerry Iannece, former chairman of Community Board 11 and City Council candidate for the 19th District. “He was a mild-mannered and educated man. As a fellow Italian American, I thought he was always someone I could look up to,” he said.Iannece had befriended Marcone in the mid-1990s, when as president of the Oakland Hills Civic Association, Marcone approached him about the possibility of merging under the umbrella of the Bayside Hills Civic Association, where Iannece served as president.A merger soon followed. “It was a good fit,” Iannece said. Houses in the Oakland civic were built by the same developer who constructed the Bayside Hills homes and the union formed a clean geographical box. Members of the Oakland civic, whose ranks were thinning, also shared the same kind of concerns as Bayside civic members, Iannece said. Iannece, who then served with Marcone on both the Bayside Hills Civic and CB 11, said he and the former Air Force officer “were pretty much on the same page” on the major issues of the day.”He was very instrumental in dealing with parking at Queensborough Community College,” Iannece said, bringing a “calming influence” to residents' concerns about on-street parking in the 1970s and 1980s.In a statement, Iannece also noted that Marcone was the city comptroller's chief engineer until he retired in the early 1990s.The last time Iannece met Marcone was at a Bayside Hills Civic meeting two weeks ago, during which the local elder expressed his support for Iannece's City Council run.”He was right there, giving me two thumbs up” Iannece said.Reach reporter M. Junaid Alam by e-mail at malam@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300 Ext 174.
