West End Museum Italian Heritage Month Honoree Night
Honoring current and former West Enders of Italian heritage who have contributed to preserving the culture of the West End and its rich immigrant history…
This year’s West End Museum Italian Heritage Month honorees—recognized for their contributions to preserving the culture of the West End and its rich immigrant history—are Joseph E. Morello, Angela Rotondo and Joseph Russo.
Joseph E. Morello was born and raised in the West End. For more than a decade, he has worked with the Augusta Boston Club, serving a term as president and on several committees such as cultural, scholarship, Festa di San Domenico, membership and bocce. In 2009, Morello received the Club’s “Man of the Year Award,” which is presented annually to a member who has devoted time and energy to the betterment and success of the group. Formerly known as the Augusta Fraternal Associates, the organization was founded in the West End in 1936 by immigrants from Augusta, Sicily, including Morello’s father Gaetano and mother Maria (Mignosa).
Angela Rotondo is a former West Ender who moved back to the neighborhood 17 years ago and has steadily served the community ever since. She is a member of the Museum’s Advisory Board; has served in many capacities for the West End Civic Association, including as president in 2014; and is currently director of the West End Place Managing Board and chairs its Community Relations Committee. Rotondo also has been professed a Secular Franciscan 3rd Order, teaching and serving as a councilor-at-large at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Boston. She is pursuing a degree in English at Suffolk University.
Joseph Russo was an Italian immigrant who founded his own funeral home business at 42 Green Street in the West End in 1926. The Joseph Russo Funeral Home still exists today in Roslindale, MA. Russo went on to serve as a distinguished member of the Boston City Council from 1938 to 1946 and later served as a commissioner of the City of Boston Election Department for many years. A dedicated West End political figure, Russo also was very active in the Augusta Fraternal Associates (predecessor to the Augusta Boston Club) and served as president at one time. He is the father of the Museum’s 2013 Italian Heritage Month honoree, Judge Domenic J.F. Russo. This honor is being bestowed posthumously.