Former GOP party boss Joseph Mondello – who served as the US Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago under President Donald Trump – died on Monday evening at the age of 84.
A force in New York State politics since the 1970s, Mondello got his political start as a Town of Hempstead councilman before being elected Nassau County GOP Committee Chair in 1983.
He held that post until 2018 when he was named US Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago by Trump.
“He became a very influential person in politics. He commanded respect. He was a very hands on guy and he worked real hard for the town at large,” current Nassau County GOP Chair Joe Cairo told The Post Tuesday.
“He treated the bank president and the bank custodian the same way. He was a very religious man and always carried a rosary. His dream was to serve in elected office and he got that in 1979. Although he was born in Brooklyn, he was always a Levittown boy.”
Mondello held several roles over his long career, including Hempstead town supervisor, chairman of Gov. George Pataki’s transition team after toppling then-Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1994 and as the head of the Nassau County Off-Track Betting Corporation.
He also served as a delegate to every Republican National Convention since 1984.
“Ambassador Joe Mondello was a soldier, public official and devoted family man who lived an extraordinary life of service to Nassau County, and the nation as a whole. He was also one of the most decent, and patriotic men I’ve ever known. My prayers are with his wife Linda, his children, and his many grandchildren who he loved so much,” Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said in a statement.
Mondello was born in Brooklyn in 1938. He got his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hofstra University in 1962 and then went on to get his law degree from the New England School of Law.
He also worked at the East Meadow school system and as a probation officer in Nassau County.
Mondello is survived by his wife, the former Linda Elizabeth Crabtree, and daughters Elizabeth Mondello and Lisa Ostuni. He is predeceased by his son Joseph Mondello Jr.