Kenneth J. Capolino

Kenneth Capolino passed away peacefully on Wednesday, September 20th, 2023, at White Plains Hospital, with his loving wife, children, & eldest grandson at his side. He is survived by his wife Patricia Capolino; son, Michael Capolino; daughter Kimberly & her husband Jamie Piccone; his grandchildren Nicholas and his wife Sarah Allen, Alessandra, Danielle, Christopher, and Julianna Piccone; and his siblings, Richard, Keith, and Dennis Capolino, Karen King, and their families.

Kenneth was born in New York City in 1949 to Ilando & Margherita Capolino, & grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in an ethnically diverse neighborhood of primarily Jewish and Italian families. As a boy, Kenneth would help the neighborhood families observing Sabbath by turning on their lights as the evening approached. His love of football started in those Brooklyn sandlots, where he played on a number of neighborhood teams with his boyhood friends.

He proudly graduated from Xavier High School in Manhattan, where his great respect for the military, strong work ethic and disciplined approach to everything he did was fostered. Kenneth then attended Manhattan College, after he moved with his family out of the City to Beacon, NY, a move which necessitated taking a sequence of trains and buses that forever changed his life.

On one leg of the journey, the #2 bus from Getty Square in Yonkers to Manhattan College, there was a beautiful young woman who reminded Kenneth of Natalie Woods that drew his interest. She regularly sat with an acquaintance from her neighborhood, but that quickly changed when she noticed the attention of a handsome Italian man sitting closer & closer every day. Finally, Patricia Apicello told that acquaintance to no longer sit with her so the seat would be open for Kenneth. Without Patricia’s knowledge, Kenneth had also asked the acquaintance to let him sit next to her so he could strike up a conversation. And from those requests, a love of a lifetime & a family to be proud of was born.

The young couple were married by November of the following year, 1967, and settled in Yonkers, where they lived for 19 years. They soon had a beautiful daughter, Kimberly Marie, who would always be the sunshine in their eyes; and 4 years later, they had a son, Michael Joseph, who would grow to be Kenneth’s best friend & buddy as time went on. During his time in Yonkers, Kenneth founded K. Capolino Construction Corp., specializing in renovations of Public facilities and Private homes, where Kenneth worked until he retired in 2006. The family moved to White Plains in 1986, where they have lived ever since.

Kenneth was actively involved in a number of community organizations throughout the years: member of the Lion’s Club of White Plains and the Sons of Italy of Yonkers; board member of the Westchester Fine Arts Council; former chairman of the Small Business Council of the County Chamber of Commerce in White Plains; supporter of the North Yonkers Boys and Girls Club; and member of the parishes of Sacred Heart in North Yonkers and Our Lady of Sorrows in White Plains.

Kenneth enjoyed working in his garden, watching football on Fall weekends, Summer days on the beaches of Cape May, NJ, arguing politics with his family and friends, and, most of all, spending time with his family. He was blessed with 5 grandchildren who were the pride and joy of his retirement years. Nothing brought him greater happiness than being their head cheerleader at athletic competitions, teammate or opponent for family games, comic relief, sun-dial time-teller, sage confidant and wise old man, and, of course, the Legend that was their Pop-pop.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Kenneth’s honor to Feeding Westchester, http://feedingwestchester.org/ .