Quattrocchi, Philip

Mr. Philip Quattrocchi (1919-1997) was born in Termini, Italy, near Palarmo. His family sailed for America around 1920 and moved to Belleville, Ontario in 1923. A few years later the family moved to Perth, Ontario where Phil's father started a fruit business. Times were rough and Phil left school at the age of fifteen to help in the family business. In 1939, Phil joined the RCAF and served in this capacity throughout World War II. At the end of the war Phil returned to Canada where he settled in Kingston and set up a fruit business of his own. Between 1952 and his death Phil Quattrocchi was involved in many projects for the community of Kingston and district. Among other projects, he was involved with fund raising for the Canadian Cancer Society (1952-57), Vietnamese Boat People (1979), earthquake victims in Friuli, Italy (1976), and the Hotel Dieu Hospital. He was a representative for the Italian Consulate (1960-80) and Founder of the Kingston Winter Carnival (1963). In 1989 he was awarded the Ontario Medal of Citizenship for work with local prison inmates - providing them with jobs and support for over twenty-five years. He is, perhaps, best known to Kingstonians for his active role as founder, in 1969, of Historic Hockey - a re-enactment of the 1886 hockey game between Queen's University and the Royal Military Academy. He died enexpectedly in a motor vehicle accident in 1997.