AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) — “It’s time.”
State Supreme Court Justice Frank Caruso looked out over the enthusiastic crowd Saturday night at Classics V Banquet Center in Amherst. The crowd was there to celebrate Caruso as 2026 Honoree at the annual Italian Heritage Gala.
Justice Caruso has announced it’s time for his retirement at the end of December after 20 years on the State Supreme Court bench and a preceding 12 years as Tonawanda Town Justice. He tells me it’s time for him and his wife Paula to spend more time with their family and to travel more.
And, on this particular Saturday night, Caruso is being celebrated for decades of leadership in Western New York’s Italian American community. This City of Tonawanda native has been Chairman of the Board in the Federation of Italian-American Societies of Western New York and chair of the annual gala that celebrates the wide-ranging contributions of Italian Americans for several years. This event draws guests and supporters from all corners of the community, including fellow judges, attorneys, elected officials, and the new president of the University at Buffalo, Caroline Attardo Genco.
“It gives me a great source of pride,” Caruso says. “I’d like to think my late father and grandfather would be very proud of me. I was the first in my family to go to college.”
The lessons of faith and family that Caruso says he learned at home as he attended Tonawanda High School and Buffalo State College have guided his long legal career. When he graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law in 1982, he took with him the ‘Rodney Samples Award’ given to the graduating student who best exemplifies the highest ethical standards…