On Wednesday, December 5th, Showcase Kitchens of Manhasset and Massapequa’s CEO and 4th generation owner of the company hosted a holiday tribute in memory of his maternal grandfather and company co-founder. The event upheld a promise Starck made to his grandfather, Anthony Noto, who passed in 2002 of colon cancer. Anthony Noto died with the knowledge that John would honor him with a grand anniversary
soiree on his 104th birthday – and the 85th year of the company’s founding.
Held at the Fox Hollow Inn in Jericho, the entire Starck family, extended family from across the country along with Showcase Kitchens staff and trade partners took in the festivities that included open bar, dinner and dancing to the sounds of Menny Memories Entertainment. The celebration included red carpet interview of noted guests hosted by award-winning TV personality, Donna Drake of Live it Up with Donna Drake. The main event was the hilarious comedic musings of Ronkonkoma native, Chris Roach, of CBS’s Kevin Can Wait.
The evening would not have been complete without the serious purpose of raising money for colon cancer, which Noto succumbed to sixteen years ago. Items auctioned included a TV segment with Donna Drake, signed John Starks Knicks jersey, Knicks and Giants tickets and Sub Zero and Wolf high-performance blender and toaster. The grand prizes were two trips to Cancun Mexico!
Starck proudly cut a $4,000 check to Colorectal Colon Alliance at the conclusion of the evening and presented it to Vanessa Ghigliotty, Colorectal Cancer Alliance representative.
Hearty and grateful thanks to all those who attended – and contributed to the cause.
The History
Anthony Noto and his father Joseph founded McDonald Wrecking Company in 1933. Located on McDonald Ave in Brooklyn, McDonald was a true pioneer of selling reclaimed building materials before it was ever considered a green environmental choice. From bricks to nails there was certainly a market for used building materials during the Great Depression. A few years after opening the business, Anthony was called to World War II and assigned to the China Burma India campaign. He quickly moved up the ranks where the Army noticed his business acumen and promoted him to Supply Sergeant. He was in charge of all the supplies on his military base in India. When the war ended Anthony returned to join his father – and the business grew over the next 60 years supplying everything and anything related home construction: windows, doors, plywood, sheetrock and even kitchens. Over that timeframe the business changed its name to McDonald Home Center and even had a spin off on location named McDonald Kitchens that his son, Joseph innovated. The business at that time would rival any of today’s Lowe’s or Home Depot in size and scale.
In June of 1999, John Starck Jr asked for his grandfather Anthony’s blessing to open a new location in Manhasset – purely a specialties business that would focus specifically on upscale kitchen and bath design and supply. The showroom opened as Showcase Kitchens in early 2000 and quickly grew and expanded to multiple locations on Long Island. Unfortunately, Anthony was diagnosed with Colon Cancer in 2002 shortly after becoming a great grandfather. He lost that battle only 6 months later.
