Colonel Edward T. Imparato
Biography
Colonel Edward T. Imparato, a member of a family of eight siblings, was born the third son of Charles and Romilda (Delli Bovi) who each passed through Ellis Island in the early 1900s. He grew up in Saugerties, New York on the shore of the beautiful Hudson River.
His early and strong desire was to fly airplanes. From age six to graduation from high school the passion for flying seemed to increase by the year. The day after graduation he departed his home town to enroll at the Ryan School of Aeronautics in San Diego, California. After graduating from Ryan with honors and a license both as a Master Aircraft and Engine Mechanic and a Commercial Pilot, he opened his own flying school in San Diego.
Joining the US Army Air Corps unit at Lindbergh Field in order to fly bigger and faster aircraft, he was called to active duty in 1938 and transferred to Randolph and Kelly Field – the “West Point of the Air” in San Antonio, Texas, where he served as an Instructor Pilot as the United States began to prepare for war.
In San Antonio, he met his first wife, Lillian, then Prima Ballerina with the San Antonio Civic Ballet.
In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and the war with Japan was declared. One week later, Imparato received transfer orders to Australia to organize a transport squadron to provide airborne support for the Army ground troops in the South West Pacific.
Two weeks after his departure his son, Edward, Jr., was born on his father's birthday.
After serving 40 months with General Douglas MacArthur in the South Pacific, Imparato was assigned to state-side duty and shortly thereafter he was selected to attend the Army’s Command and General Staff College.
European duty called in 1948 when he was dispatched with his Troop Carrier Unit to Germany in support of the Berlin Air Lift. After his return to the United States he attended the senior management course at George Washington University, Washington, DC.
In 1955 he was selected to attend the Air War College. Following graduation he was assigned to the Caribbean Air Command in Panama as Chief of Staff and Air Force Inspector General of all Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) units in Central and South America. He retired from the Air Force in June 1961 at the age of 43 to Bellaire, Florida, to begin his civilian career.
Among the military awards received by Colonel Imparato and many men who served with him are: the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit, Presidential Unit Citation with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Asiatic Pacific ribbon with eight Battle Stars.
His civic accomplishments were many. He established foundations in Clearwater for the YMCA, UPARC, Ability Inc., the Arthritis Research Institutes, the Florida Golf Coast Art Center, the Pinellas Animal Foundation, and the Senior Citizens Foundation and was a principal benefactor for the Downtown Children’s Center. He retired as vice president and resident manager of the Clearwater office of Merrill Lynch in 1991. He organized and founded Morton Plant Hospital Foundation and was its first board president helping raise an estimated ten million dollars for the hospital.
Colonel Imparato and his second wife, Jean (DeGarmo), celebrated over fifty years of marriage. Jean benefited the University of Florida Veterinary School with a grant for research after her passing.