Massaro: Denver native Perito directed music 40 years for Perry ComoAugust 6, 2005 Denver native Nick Perito played out the last bars of the symphony of his life in a California hospital. He died Wednesday of pulmonary fibrosis at Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 81. "He taught us passion in approaching life," said his daughter, Jennie Perito, of New York City. "He taught us to meet it head on and do it with delight, to go at it with vigor and love."Mr. Perito was Perry Como's conductor and music director for 40 years. Even though he was working with big-name movie stars and musicians, he never forgot his hometown. "He loved Denver with all his heart, as does Mom," Jennie Perito said. When a group founded the Italian Open in Denver, a golf and bocce tournament, to raise money for cancer research, Mr. Perito persuaded entertainer friends to perform for free. Mr. Perito was born April 7, 1924, in Denver to Rocco and Jennie Comnillo Perito. He grew up like everyone else in North Denver. He and lifetime friend Ray Valente would go to a Piggly-Wiggly Market on snowy days on their way to school, get paper bags, cut eyeholes out and use them as caps. "We didn't have caps. The sacks kept our heads warm," Mr. Perito said in this column in December. "It was Ray's idea." He loved to eat. He wrote a song about how he and his friends loved to eat Kookootz, which is Italian slang for zucchini. Valente still has the music and lyrics for the song, which Mr. Perito autographed. He took up accordion at an early age. He was blessed with two things: a gift for music and an older brother, Mike, who pushed and prodded him to greatness, never allowing him to settle for average. Later, Mr. Perito studied piano and became a master. During World War II, Mr. Perito served as a medic in the Army. He made friends with a New York pizza parlor owner and played professionally on weekends. After the war, he studied at Juilliard School of Music. He graduated in 1949. He and Judy Stone were married May 28, 1949, in Denver. "They were high school sweethearts - that's a long time," Jennie Perito said. "They essentially grew up together." They lived in New York 22 years and then moved to the Los Angeles area in 1971. Mr. Perito and Como forged a longtime friendship that went beyond music. "He was my friend, my brother, my uncle," Mr. Perito said. He wrote a book last year about his life and the many people he had met - I Just Happened to be There - Making Music with the Stars, which is available at Valente's Italian Restaurant in Wheat Ridge. In addition to his daughter, Mr. Perito is survived by his wife, Judy, of the Los Angeles area; two sons, Danny, of Los Angeles, and Terry, of New York City; a daughter-in-law, Sheila, of Los Angeles; and a son-in-law, Scott Citron, of New York City. Services will be private. . . . with condolences to The Perito family Judy, Terry, Jennie, Danny & Shelia |
