Arnold Drago succumbed to cancer Sunday evening, December 9 ^th .  He lived a varied and interesting life complete with a loving wife, daughter and many long-time friends.  Arnie graduated from the New York Military Academy in 1961.  He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Syracuse University in 1965.  He also had an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army.

In his youth he was a member of the Essex Drill Team, an equestrian dressage unit, and exhibited in Madison Square Garden.  He was a sandal maker in Berkeley, CA in 1968, the Summer of Love.  He lived on the beach of Puerta Vallarta in a palapa, before Puerta Vallarta was cool.  He owned a clothing boutique, the Graduate, in Oneonta, N.Y. for about ten years before moving to Florida.

In Florida, he started an exporting company, selling medical equipment.  Then he found his true calling as a real estate salesman extraordinaire first for, Bellemeade Development and then Harbour Village.  He was in the Million Dollar Sales Circle, year after year.

Arnie was a dedicated father to daughter Daria.  He was a loving and supportive husband to wife, Patricia and proud grandfather of Jaeda, Tevan and Chloe.  When asked what achievement he was proudest of he would always answer, "being Dari's father and Pat's husband."  Helping the two women in his life achieve their goals and happiness gave him great joy.  Pat and Arnie were life companions and took so much joy in each other's pleasure of every day, especially good food and the performing arts.

If there was fun to be had – he wanted to be part of it.  He had an outstanding work ethic.  As an example, his modified sleeper van attended Woodstock Festival in 1969, but he stayed home and ran the store.

In his teen years he worked in the family business, Drago Shoe Repair, and managed a store in the New York Port Authority, working 12 hour days, six days a week, then going out with his Sicilian New York family members to the Metropolitan Opera or the Latin Quarter night club.

He loved to travel, always taking the side roads, sampling local market goods and immersing himself in the local lifestyle elements.  His dominant characteristics were being straight forward, exuberant, forceful and enthusiastic.

He went hang gliding, sky diving, hot air ballooning, SCUBA diving, horse back camping in the Rockies and a photo safari to Africa.  If there was a party or an event – he was ALL IN!  He had a generous heart for family and friends, but was impatient with timidity.

He will be sorely missed.  The family is having visitation hours at Lohman's Funeral Home, Ormond Beach, 733 W. Granada Blvd. from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Monday, December 17 ^th .  Arnie's ashes will be spread in a celebration of life on the mountainside this August at the 50 ^th Annual Flats Party, outside Oneonta, N.Y.