Sal DeFalco

Salvatore (Sal) DeFalco of Fort Lauderdale passed away October 31, 2014, following a brief battle with cancer. He was 56. Sal grew up in New Jersey, and left home at a young age for the bright lights and energy of New York City. He knew early on that he was destined for a life that few experience. Over the decades Sal became an iconic bartender, first at the famed Limelight and Studio 54 discotheques in New York City in the 1970s, where he rubbed elbows with movie stars, designers, royalty and the "in" crowd of the day. Sal was also involved in the re-opening of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, the site of the Stonewall Riots that started the Gay Liberation Movement, and most recently worked at Hunters in Wilton Manors, Florida. In all of these locales, Sal was not just a bartender -- he was known to have a welcoming smile that beamed from his handsome face. Mr. DeFalco was one of the first in NYC to volunteer his time with God's Love We Deliver, providing meals for homebound AIDS patients. Over the course of 35 years he also became a tireless advocate for HIV prevention and other community-based GLBT initiatives. Sal is survived by his life partner of 25 years,...[more]

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aude Tant; sisters Helen DeFalco of Oak Island, NC; Patricia DeFalco of Elizabeth, NJ; Marion Caldwell of Kenilworth, NJ; and Anne Marie DeLeon of East Rutherford, NJ; and dear friends including Sharon Kosokoff, Johanna Punzone and Bruce Bogen, as well as hundreds of others in New York, North Carolina and South Florida. The funeral service will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2014, at 2 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church, 333 Tarpon Drive in Fort Lauderdale. Sal will be laid to rest at Gethsemane Memorial Gardens in Zebulon, North Carolina at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, November 9, 2014.