Roger Laghezza, Gazette Co-Founder, Dies At Age 78

Roger Laghezza, with Judy Weiner-Jackson and George Stamatiades, a founder of the newspaper that became the Queens Gazette, died Monday morning, February 2. He was 78 years old.

Laghezza was a lifelong resident of the Dutch Kills neighborhood. He attended the parochial school operated in conjunction with St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church on 29th Street and Long Island City H.S. Until his retirement, he was a piano technician and taught the work to blind individuals at the New York Institute for Education of the Blind.

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Dorothy, who he married on Jan. 5, 1956, a son, Pat, a daughter, Margaret, and three grandchildren age 13, 15 and 17. A brother, Rev. Father Pasquale Laghezza, is a chaplain at the Veterans Administration hospital in St. Albans.

Laghezza was a member of the Ravenswood chapter of Lions Club International and over several years collected more than 100,000 pairs of used eyeglasses for the Lions' eyeglass recycling program. He served a term as vice president of the Dutch Kills Civic Association and was a member in good standing of that organization until his death.

The family received visitors at the Thomas M. Quinn & Sons Funeral Home, 35-20 Broadway, Long Island City on Tuesday and Wednesday. A funeral Mass is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, February 5 at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, 39-38 29th St., Long Island City, followed by interment at Calvary Cemetery, 49-02 Laurel Hill Blvd., Woodside.