Vincenzo-James DiMartino (Jim) was born in 1933 in Manhattan, New York to Francesco and Vincenza (Jenni) Renna-DiMartino.
Jim’s parents came to New York from Sicily, Italy in 1920. Francesco worked as a long shoreman on the docks until he and his wife, Jenni, bought a bakery on Mott Street in
Manhattan. Francesco would bake all night, and Ginny would work in the bakery during the day.
When Jim was 16, he quit school, because he wanted to work with his parents in the bakery business. Jim decided to add groceries into the store inventory and developed a wholesale route selling Italian bread to other retailers. One of his customers was a member of a cooperative called Pioneer Grocery. He saw the potential in Jim and invited him to join the group.
Jim’s talents and gregarious personality allowed him to become a member of the board of directors, the vice president and then the president of Pioneer Grocery. Jim proceeded to open two successful grocery stores in Manhattan and had a garbage collection business.
In 1961, Jim married Anna Diblasio. They had a son in 1962, Francesco (Frank) DiMartino. In 1970 at 37 years of age, Jim and Anna decided to retire and sell the grocery stores and move to Tucson, AZ. They bought a ranch on ten acres and Jim became enthralled with raising
racehorses. He claims he became a cowboy! Also, Jim opened two small grocery stores in Tucson, one near ASU and he bought rentals in the area accumulating 34 rentals that he rented to mostly students. Jim loved building a new business and then would sell them.
In 1980, Jim and Anna sold the ranch and moved to Carson City, NV. Jim became restless, so he went to dealer’s school and learned to become a dealer for Cal Neva Casino in Reno, Nevada, where he worked for two summers. In 1980, Jim and Anna took on another adventure by buying a motel in Las Vegas and moving there, where they ran it until 1988, when they sold it and then moved back to Carson City, NV to be near their son Frank.
They bought a motel in Carson City for their son to run. Frank lost interest in running the motel when he became interested in selling cars and opened a used car lot. They sold the motel around 1988. From then on, Jim bought and sold and invested in real estate.
Tragedy struck in 1997 when Anna unexpectedly passed. Jim decided to move back to Tucson to enjoy the mild weather, and in 2007 Jim moved to Quail Creek in Green Valley, AZ where he resided for 18 years. He loved the social life of Quail Creek, and he enjoyed belonging to the billiard club and competing in tournaments.
Jim had a positive energy that affected all he met. He was not formally educated, but had an innate talent for numbers, invested wisely, had a wonderful sense of humor, and a positive attitude, and made friends easily. Jim entertained his friends with his many stories about growing up in New York City, raising horses and dealing in real estate. Jim will be missed by his many friends and family.
Jim is proceeded in death by his siblings, Joseph, Salvador and Rosie and his parents, Francesco and Vincenza (Jenni) DiMartino, and his son Frank.
He is survived by his grandson, Francesco DiMartino and his wife Stephanie, grandsons, Rome, Lorenzo and Rocky and his granddaughter, Gigi, all of Carson City, NV area, and his sister, Sally Renda of Queens, NY and Sally’s four sons and a daughter and their families, and niece Antoinette Kuhn of Green Valley.