Nano Ancona, longtime merchant

Nazzareno “Nano” Ancona, a lifelong Ridgefielder and well-known merchant here and in the state, died Sunday, Feb. 22, 2004, in Norwalk Hospital. He was 72 years old and the husband of Carol Gartrell Ancona.
Mr. Ancona was born on Aug. 18, 1931, in an apartment above his father’s grocery store on Route 7 in Branchville. His parents, Joseph and Josephine Bellante Ancona, were natives of Sicily. Joseph Ancona had come to the country in 1912 and soon after established his market in Branchville.
Nano Ancona grew up in Branchville, and was one of the last students to attend the old Branchville Schoolhouse. He graduated from Ridgefield High School in 1949 and two years later from the Merrill School of Business in Stamford.
He and Carol Gartrell were married July 4, 1956. They had known each other since she moved to Park Lane, just around the corner from the Ancona stores, when she was 11 years old.
In 1951, Mr. Ancona established Branchville Hardware in the brick building on the corner of Routes 7 and 102. “We sold everything — guns, ammunition, appliances, paint,” said Carol Ancona.
When his father died in 1958, Mr. Ancona closed the hardware store and took over the family package store, which had been in business since Prohibition ended. Under his ownership, the store grew from 650 square feet to 4,000 square feet, with more than 1,500 labels of wine, 450 of beer, and a hundred kinds of scotch.
A skill conversationalist who had studied at a New York wine institute, Mr. Ancona would often discuss wines with customers. “The biggest challenge for anyone in business is to try to figure out what their customers’ tastes are,” he said in a n inteview. “You try to match the product to the person or with the occasion. The more you interact with the customers, the more in tune you get with their tastes.”
Mr. Ancona was a former president of the Connecticut Package Stores Association, and had often appeared before legislative committees in Hartford, representing the liquor retailers. Five years ago, the association named him the “Retailer of the Year.”
In 2003, he and his family were honored by the Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce for community service.
Mr. Ancona was long active in the town. His high school yearbook predicted he would be “mayor of Branchville” and, indeed, he became the longtime president of the Branchville Civic Association and was later active in the Branchville Area Merchants.
In the wake of the 1955 flood that heavily damaged Branchville, he had served on the town’s Flood and Erosion Control Board. He was a member of the Board of Incorporators of the Ridgefield Bank, and had belonged to the Kiwanis Club and the Italian American Mutual Aid Society.
Like his father, who played the mandolin, Mr. Ancona was a musician. He played alto saxophone in the high school band and orchestra, and as a boy had learned the piano. But his favorite instrument was the organ.
Besides his wife, Mr. Ancona is survived by four children: Matthew and his wife Lisa of Woodbury, Cheryl Doroski and her husband Mark of Oslo, Norway, Cynthia Ancona of Pompano, Fla., and Mitchell Ancona and his wife Deborah of Redding; two brothers, Joseph and John Ancona, both of Ridgefield; a sister, Phyllis Taylor of Bethel; and six grandchildren, Jake, Nick and Kristen Ancona of Woodbury, Chrisitian and Allison Ancona of Pompano, and Alexandra Ancona of Redding.
The Rev. M. Joseph Joaquin will celebrate a Mass of Christian Burial Friday at 10 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church, Georgetown.
Friends may call at the Bouton Funeral Home today, Feb. 26, from 4 to 8.
Contributions in Mr. Ancona’s memory may be made to the Visiting Nurse Association, 90 East Ridge, or the Ridgefield Fire Department Ambulance Fund, 6 Catoonah Street.