Brother Antonio Montera, OSF, a Franciscan Brother of Brooklyn for 66 years, died on Oct. 7.
He was born Richard John in Ridgewood, and was the fourth of five children of Pasquale Montera and Theresa Falbo.
He attended P.S. 116 through sixth grade, graduated from St. Brigid’s School in 1954, and graduated from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in 1958.
After spending a year at St. John’s University in Brooklyn and speaking with Brother Donald Sullivan, his former teacher, he entered the Franciscan Brothers’ Novitiate in Wyandanch on the feast of St.
Bonaventure, July 14, 1959, and received the habit on the following Feb. 2.
In 1962, Brother Antonio was professed and spent the next three years at the Brother Columba Reilly Scholasticate on
Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn, eventually receiving NY State Mathematics Certification and degrees from St. Francis College and New York University.
In 1964, Brother Antonio began teaching at St. Patrick’s School on Kent Avenue in Brooklyn, then at St. Aidan’s School in Williston Park and Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
From 1967 to 1973, Brother Antonio taught religion at Bishop Ford High School in Park Slope. This was followed by five years at St. Anthony’s High School in Smithtown and six years teaching math at La Salle Military Academy in Oakdale.
Brother Antonio returned to St. Anthony’s in 1984 and helped move the school from Smithtown to South Huntington. In 1988,
he became registrar and served in that role for 30 years until he retired in 2018.
Brother Antonio continued for one year as an administrative assistant and left St. Anthony’s in September of 2019.
In 1968, Brother Antonio was asked to work on extracurricular activities as the moderator of the cross-country and track and field teams. He was inducted into the CHSAA Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 2017 and, in 2019, into St. Anthony’s Alumni Hall of
Fame as an honorary alumnus.
He is survived by his sister Gloria, extended family, and his Franciscan Brothers.
A Mass of Christian Burial was offered on Oct. 16 at Saint Anthony’s High School Chapel in South Huntington, followed by interment at Holy Rood Cemetery, Westbury, New York.