Friday, Nov. 21, 2003 | 9:06 a.m.
Sam Paternostro spent a lifetime making a difference in the lives of youths.
As an 18-year-old amateur boxer in 1938, he fought an undefeated 17-year-old featherweight and made, as his family says,"a tremendous showing" in defeat.
A year later, Paternostro's opponent went on to win the New York Golden Gloves and, after amassing a 125-0 amateur record, turned pro in 1940. That fighter was the great Sugar Ray Robinson, went on to win the world welterweight and middleweight titles.
Paternostro went on to be a successful Las Vegas businessman, a Democratic Party leader who once sought an Assembly seat on a platform supporting a state lottery, a boxing coach, a civic leader and an activist for youth causes.
Sebastian "Sam" Paternostro, a longtime member of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 525 who owned a Las Vegas plumbing company and served on the State Plumbers Board, died Tuesday of complications from diabetes at Mountain View Hospital. He was 82.
Services for the Las Vegas resident of 53 years will be 1 p.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church. Graveside services will follow at Palm Valley View Memorial Park. Visitation will be 2-6 p.m. Monday at Palm Cheyenne Mortuary followed by a rosary.
As one of the founders of the Henderson Boys Club, Paternostro donated boxing equipment and personally trained many of the youngsters.
"Sam taught the finer points of boxing," said former Gov. Mike O'Callaghan, a former Henderson amateur boxing coach who appointed Paternostro to the State Plumbers Board in 1972. "But the well-being of the boxers he coached was always foremost on his mind."
O'Callaghan is the executive editor of the Sun.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a former amateur boxer coached by O'Callaghan, worked out at the Henderson Boys Club and got to know Paternostro.
"Sam was like a grandfather figure to many of us," Reid said. "He was always around there doing anything he could for us. He did so much and never sought a dime for it. His only gratification was that he could help."
Paternostro directed five Nevada Golden Gloves boxing tournaments and one Amateur Athletic Union national boxing championship tourney. He also coordinated local boxing events for the Police Athletic League and the Catholic Youth Organization.
He was owner of A&P Plumbing and Air Conditioning and for 25 years, until his retirement in 1985, Paternostro was refrigeration foreman for Reynolds Electric and Engineering Co. at the Nevada Test Site.
Born Dec. 8, 1920, in Buffalo, N.Y., Paternostro grew up in poverty during the Great Depression. As a teenager he found work in the Civilian Conservation Corps in New York, where he learned to box.
He was a graduate of Canisius College in Buffalo, where he learned the specialty trade of tool and die making.
In 1941, he married the former Mary Gentile, who preceded him in death in 1986.
The Paternostros moved to Las Vegas in 1950 where he became active in politics, serving as an executive board member for the Nevada State Democratic Party and as a member of the Clark County Democratic Central Committee. He made three unsuccessful bids for elected office.
In 1966, Paternostro ran for Assembly, seeking additional state and local revenues via a state-run lottery.
"Had such a lottery been passed in 1955 when it was first proposed, many of our financial woes would have already been solved," Paternostro told the Sun in a June 9, 1966, story, calling the lottery "as natural to Nevada as ham is to eggs."
In 1970, Paternostro sought election to the state Board of Education, calling for stronger measures to combat illegal narcotics in schools. Paternostro ran again for the Assembly in 1972, campaigning for property tax relief for seniors, veterans and widows. He served two terms on the Las Vegas Urban Renewal Board and 10 years on the Las Vegas Parks and Recreation Board. He also was a member of the Nevada Safety Council.
As a civic leader, Paternostro was state youth chairman for the Knights of Columbus, an executive director of the Boulder Dam Boy Scouts Council, a member of the board of governors of the Southern Nevada AAU, a member of the YMCA and Las Vegas Big Brothers and was a youth baseball coach.
Paternostro also was a member of the Italian-American Club, Eagles, Footprinters, Toastmasters and Las Vegas Optimists.
He is survived by his wife of 16 years, Anne Paternostro of Las Vegas; sons Salvatore Paternostro of Farmington, N.M., and Anthony Paternostro of Darby, Mont.; a daughter, Philomena Pierro of Las Vegas; eight grandchildren, Vicki Talaferro, Kaja Drummond, Patrick Paternostro, Paul Roterdam, Matthew Roterdam, Peter Rotterdam, Natalie Kosior and Nathaniel Roterdam; eight great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.
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