Bernard DeVito

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Former Dongan Hills resident Bernard DeVito, 69, of Howard Beach, Queens, a retired businessman who was dedicated to his family, died Friday in Jamaica Hospital, Queens, of complications of West Nile virus. Born in Ozone Park, Queens, he went to high school in his native borough. Mr. DeVito moved to Dongan Hills in the early 1980s and lived there until eight years ago, when he relocated to Howard Beach. He worked in the family lumber yard business in Brooklyn, and later worked at his nephews' lumber yard in Queens. He retired two years ago. Mr. DeVito loved motorcycles and belonged to a motorcycle club. He also enjoyed fishing, CB radios, a good cigar and time with his family, they said. "He was one of a kind," said his daughter, Tricia DeVito. "He was very kind and generous. He was a big man, but so sweet, and at 6'5" and 270 pounds, a gentle giant." Mr. DeVito adored his grandchildren, Giacomo Castelmare and Carli Stanford, and had gotten tattoos with their names, she added. He was happily anticipating the birth of his third grandchild. While living on the Island, he was a parishioner of St. Ann's R.C. Church, Dongan Hills. Surviving, along with his daughter, Tricia, and his grandchildren, are his daughters, Danielle DeVito and JoAnna Stanford; his brother, Philip; his sister, Madeline Castellano, and his former wife, Louise DeVito. The funeral will be Wednesday from the Colonial Funeral Home, New Dorp, with a Mass at 10 a.m. in St. Ann's Church. Burial will follow in Moravian Cemetery, New Dorp.