The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Patrick Gianotto, a lifelong township resident and key player in the Hamilton street business district redevelopment effort, has died. He was 62.
Gianotto, owner of Franklin Electric on Hamilton Street, died April 28 while vacationing in Key West, Fla.
Born in New Brunswick, Gianotto lived and worked on Hamilton Street.
For more than a decade, but most recently over the past two years, he had been a tireless advocate for the business district’s redevelopment. As chairman of the Hamilton Street Advisory Board, Gianotto successfully lobbied the Township Council to reinstate the Community Police Team in the district, and was a champion of the various proposed redevelopment projects that promise to change the Hamilton Street streetscape, as well as other efforts to revitalize the business district.
He was a member of the Somerset Moose Lodge and the Franklin Eagles.
Gianotto is predeceased by his parents, Frank and Bertha Gianotto. He is survived by Susan Hancaviz, his partner of more than 25 years; three sons, Patrick A. Gianotto and Jeffrey and Jacob Hancaviz, all of Somerset; two brothers, Frank and his wife Dorothy of Toms River and Michael and his wife Gail of Somerset; a sister, Ann Marie Gianotto of Point Pleasant; a grandson, Liam Michael Cuddeback, and family and friends.
Visitation will be held 6-9 p.m. on May 4 and 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. May 5 at Gleason Funeral Home, 1360 Hamilton St.
A funeral Mass will be held 10:30 a.m. May 6 at St. Matthias Church, 170 John F. Kennedy Blvd. His cremains will be buried 10:30 a.m. May 7 in St. Peter’s Cemetery, New Brunswick.
Donations in his name may be made to the Franklin Food Bank.
