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Author: William Roka

The Mayor from, and of, the South Village: Fiorello LaGuardia

Fiorello (Italian for ‘Little Flower’) LaGuardia is remembered today as one of New York City’s greatest mayors. A progressive who guided New Yorkers through the Depression and World War II, he was the first Mayor to serve three terms, and the first of either Italian or Jewish descent. It was LaGuardia’s achievements as mayor, and his birth in the South Village, that prompted the Friends of LaGuardia to commemorate LaGuardia with a statue on October 19, 1994.