Msgr. Edward J. Bottino, longtime pastor of Mary’s Nativity-St. Ann Parish in Flushing, died Jan. 13 at age 93.

Msgr. Bottino attended Iona College in New Rochelle, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He later earned an MA degree and a Ph.D. degree, both in European history, from St. John’s University.

Msgr. Bottino attended Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 7, 1952. He was named a monsignor on May 14, 1986. He served as a parochial vicar in the Diocese of Brooklyn at St. Andrew Avellino, Flushing; St. Edmund, Brooklyn; and St. Benedict Joseph Labre, Richmond Hill. Msgr. Bottino was named pastor of Mary’s Nativity-St. Ann Parish on June 23, 1979, where he served as pastor until his retirement on June 28, 2003, when he was named pastor emeritus.

In 2005, he was named  temporary administrator at St. Leo Church, Corona, and in 2006, was named temporary administrator at St. Michael Parish, Flushing. In 2007, he was named temporary administrator at American Martyrs Parish, Bayside. In 2010, Msgr. Bottino served as assistant to the territorial vicars and returned to Mary’s Nativity as temporary administrator.

Father Edward M. Kachurka, pastor of Mary’s Nativity-St. Ann, said those who knew Msgr. Bottino remember him as “a simple man, and a great priest, who was kind and considerate to everybody.

“Msgr. Bottino has been called a good human being, who was a good brother to his brother priests,” he said, “and I’m sure that’s how he will be remembered.”

After his retirement, he was in residence at Mary’s Nativity-St. Ann before he moved to the Retired Bishops Residence in Douglaston in 2019.

A funeral Mass was held on Jan. 19 at Mary’s Nativity-St. Ann Church, Flushing, with interment to follow at St. Mary Cemetery, Flushing.