The husband and wife founders of A&B Plumbing and Hardware, Al and Dotty Ciniglio, died last month just three days apart. Al Ciniglio died of complications from heart surgery on March 16 at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica. He was 81. His wife died, also at Saint John’s, on March 19 following a long illness.
Al Ciniglio was born Albert Peter Ciniglio on Jan. 15, 1926 as one of three children to Italian immigrants in Belmore, N.Y. He enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II and served in the South Pacific. Dotty Ciniglio was born Dorothy Louise Antonides, an only child, on Oct. 25, 1926 in Brooklyn. The couple met when they were 13, and married in 1945 when they were 20.
The Ciniglios moved to California in the late 1940s, settling in Malibu where they built their home in 1955. That same year, they opened A&B Plumbing and Hardware. The couple ran the business until they retired in 1994. Their only child, Steve, was born in 1955.
After retirement, the Ciniglios did a great deal of traveling, including several trips abroad. They would have celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary this June.
The couple is survived by their son, Steve; daughter-in-law, Beth and grandchildren, Tony, Christy and Michael. Private services have taken place. Donations can be made in their names to the charity of one’s choice.