Nazareth University’s Frank DiMino Casa Italiana has received a bequest of $1.18 million from donor Michael Cantisano, a former co-owner of the Ragu Packing Company in Rochester. Cantisano, who passed away in 2015, gifted one-eighth of his estate to the Casa Italiana.
Cantisano, who owned Ragu Packing Company, Inc., along with his brothers, was in charge of quality control at Ragu until it was sold to Chesebrough Ponds, Inc. Ragu spaghetti sauce was founded by their parents, Giovanni and Assunta Cantisano, in their Rochester home in the late 1930s. They opened the Ragu Packing Company factory in the early 1950s, and sales soared to $22 million in 1969, the year they sold to Chesebrough.
“The Frank DiMino Casa Italiana has long been a beloved cultural center on our campus since its opening in 1978,” said Nazareth President Beth Paul. “It is such a joy to find out a decade after his death that Mr. Cantisano believed so deeply in the Casa’s mission to help our students, the Rochester Italian community, and beyond, study, appreciate, and celebrate the Italian-American experience. We are so grateful.”
The Cantisano gift is for the Frank DiMino Casa Italiana Endowment Fund.
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