Francis X. Silvestri

Proud retiree from the �Bored� of Education, grateful rank-and-file-er of the United Federation of Teachers and the unofficial president of The Albert Shanker Fan Club, Francis X. Silvestri passed away on Saturday. He was 80. Mr. Silvestri believed in academia. He graduated from Xavier High School and Georgetown University with an acumen for languages including classic Greek and Latin. He earned a Master�s in Biology at Hunter College as one of the first males to attend the Manhattan campus. After enormous encouragement from his late wife, Patricia M. Silvestri, he started a career in the New York City public school system. His first teaching job was science at Tottenville High School. He eventually taught biology at Sarah J. Hale in Brooklyn. Classroom work at the latter school � to which he jokingly referred to as �Sarah�s Jail� � inspired serious consideration of the truant officer's civil service examination. He passed it with flying colors and was thrilled with �Attendance Teacher� posts at Susan Wagner High School and McKee Tech. Stationed on Staten Island with the central office known as BASIS, he found his professional home. Mr. Silvestri worked part-time at Kingsborough Community College and the Borough of Manhattan Community College as an adjunct professor in Anatomy and Physiology. He taught countless students in the subject who then went on to be physicians� assistants and serve in the medical field. In retirement, Mr. Silvestri helped tend to his wife, Patricia, who suffered a steady demise from Multiple Sclerosis. If he had a hobby, it was being a devout Roman Catholic. For years, he opened the church each morning at Assumption, New Brighton. He was an avid morning mass goer at either Sacred Heart or Blessed Sacrament, both West Brighton. Eventually he watched those early services on The Net (formerly The Brooklyn Prayer Channel) and received the Host almost daily at home from the amazingly dedicated eucharistic ministers of the Sacred Heart community and its Pastor, Fr. Rhey Garcia. The Silvestri family extends their gratitude to the phenomenal staff at Visiting Nurses Services, Dr. Frank Scafuri�s office, plus the physicians themselves � Dr. Scafuri, Dr. Bob Griswold, Dr. Luna Xu, Dr. Allen Fung and Dr. Craig Campbell. Mr. Silvestri leaves behind a daughter, Pamela Silvestri Cavagnaro, and grandchildren Andrew and James. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation to Sacred Heart R.C. Church of West Brighton � 987 Castleton Ave., Staten Island, N.Y. � where the funeral mass will be held on Saturday, April 13 at 10:30 a.m. Visitation at Scalia will be from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, April 12, 2024.

Francis X. Silvestri

May 7, 1943 - April 6, 2024