Fond words and misty−eyes recalled a “guardian” of Brooklyn, who established a local organization for neurological disorders while operating a pair of successful local businesses – and whose legacy will live on at the corner of East 27th Street and Avenue Z, now also “Michael Fischetti Way.”
The community stalwart and family man succumbed to cancer last year, leaving behind an illustrious legacy as founding member of the Guardians of Hydrocephalus Research Foundation, which he established with the late Dom DeLuise. In addition, Fischetti owned M & M Meats, which he opened on that intersection in the 1960s, and later hosted countless family parties, weddings and other special occasions at M & M Caterers in Sheepshead Bay.
Fischetti started the Guardians because he was unable to find a suitable organization when his own son, Emilio, was diagnosed with hydrocephalus (water on the brain), ultimately, working with such groups as the Make−A−Wish−Foundation to realize the dreams of terminally− and critically−ill youngsters.
In the 1990s, Fischetti and his wife, Marie, assisted NYU Medical Center fund the opening of a children’s clinic, and in 2005 helped a couple from Trinidad bring their daughter there to receive critical medical treatment.
A shrewd businessman, Fischetti provided his customers with “low prices” and a “friendly atmosphere,” and trained “countless young men and women” for trades which they use to this day to support their families.
Councilmember Michael Nelson, who helped sponsor the legislation for the street−naming, presided over the ceremony and, later, presented the Fischetti family with a keepsake sign of the co−named street corner.
“He was such a special guy. Everybody that met him just loved him,” said Marie Fischetti.
For more information about the Guardians of Hydrocephalus Research Foundation, visit www.ghrforg.org.