Obituary of Sue Flato

Sue (Packer) Flato, loving mother of John Flato and daughter- in-law Carol, and grandmother of Scott and Michael Flato passed away on February 11, 2010. Her husband, George Flato died in 1973. Sue was born in New York City and raised in Rochester, New York. Her mother was from England and her father escaped to New York from the pogroms in Russia. Her father was a commercial real estate developer, who developed the first mall in the United States. She had two sisters and a brother, who predeceased her. Sue graduated from East High School in Rochester, and furthered her education at the Rochester Business Institute. After graduating, she moved to New York City. Her first job was as a telephone operator during the war. She later moved to Saks on 34th Street, as an assistant buyer in the handbag department. She worked at the Wayne Country Club in Pennsylvania as a hostess during the summer, and had a wonderful social life. She moved back to New York and was a model for Russex Fur. Later she modeled for them in Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse. After her modeling career, she sold cosmetics for Man of Manhattan from the 72nd floor of the Empire State Building. She became their sales supervisor, and traveled coast-to-coast cosmetics to department stores. She traveled to 47 States in the continental United States, missing only Maine. She assisted department stores to set up the cosmetics department. Sue met her husband, George Flato when visiting her cousin in Lawrence, Long Island, and married in 1940. George was a businessman who owned a printing business in Yonkers, NY. They settled in Woodmere, Long Island, New York. After George served as an officer in World War II, they had one son, John. Sue became a homemaker in order to raise her son. After George passed away in 1973, Sue moved to Manhattan to live with her sister. When John moved to New Jersey in 1993, he moved both Sue and her sister to Randolph to be near him. Sue lived on her own until age 96, and when life got a little too difficult for her, she moved into Merry Heart in 2005. Sue will be greatly missed by her family. Visiting hours at Tuttle Funeral Home, 272 Route 10 West, Randolph (www.tuttlefh.com) will be 2-4 pm on Sunday, February 21, 2010.