THOMAS ARRIGO, OWNED STATLER FLOWER SHOP
Thomas J. Arrigo, 95, who befriended dozens of celebrities in the worlds of entertainment and politics as the proprietor of the flower shop in the old Hotel Statler, died Sunday (Sept. 26, 1993) at his home in Buffalo after a long illness.

Katharine Hepburn, Eleanor Roosevelt and Sophie Tucker were among the notables he came to know as customers at the Tom Arrigo Hotel Statler Flower Shop, which he operated from 1939 to 1966.

During the 1940s and '50s, he met hundreds of stars who played at the old Erlanger Theater on Delaware Avenue. Since the theater was across the street from the hotel, most of the stars stayed in the Statler.

Born in Sicily, he came to the United States with his family in 1904. As a youngster, he helped his widowed mother support their large family by working as a shoeshine boy. He served in the Army during World War I.

He earned a degree in horticulture at Michigan State University and worked with local florists. He joined the Palmer Florist Shop in the Hotel Statler in 1932 and became branch manager before he purchased the business in 1939. After closing the shop in the Statler, he continued his florist business from various locations until he retired in 1990.

He also was active in all branches of Masonry, beginning in 1942, when he joined Demolay Lodge 498, becoming master in 1951. He also was affiliated with Concordia Lodge 143.

He was a 32nd-degree member of Buffalo Consistory, S.P.R.S., which gave him its meritorious service award in 1986 for his support of its activities. The Legion of Honor of the Ismailia Temple, the Shrine Club's veterans organization, named him man of the year in 1990. He was the group's last living veteran of World War I.

In addition to his membership in Ismailia Temple and the Legion of Honor, he was a member of the Amherst Shrine Club, Knights of Mecca, Antique Car Club, Camel Herders, PhDs Luncheon Club and the Railroad Shrine Club.

For many years, he worked as a volunteer for the annual Shrine Circus and was volunteer gardener and landscaper at the Shrine Mosque.

Active in the Downtown Kiwanis Club, in later years he was an officer of the Kiwanis Senior Citizens. He also was a member of the Senior Center of the Salvation Army.

His wife, Ruth Shaver Arrigo, died in 1975.

Surviving are two daughters, Dorothy of New York City and Ellen Crowley of Walpole, N.H.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday in Carlton A. Ullrich Funeral Home, 3272 Bailey Ave. Interment will be in Forest Lawn.