(Photo by Jim Rice)
On Thursday, October 28, The Falcon in Marlboro announced the passing of owner Tony Falco. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tony Falco.”
Anthony Falco of Marlboro, NY, died on October 28, 2021, after a six-month battle with complications from Covid-19. Known to all as Tony, he was born on September 12, 1956, to Ferdinand and Margaret Falco in Staten Island, NY, where he was raised along with his six siblings.
(Rafael Quirindongo | Courtesy of the Falcon)
A man with many passions and skills, a loving husband and father, and an engaged community leader, Tony is perhaps best known as the owner of The Falcon, the innovative music venue he founded in the early 2000s in Marlboro. The Falcon became a mecca for jazz musicians and one of the Hudson Valley’s most prominent and diverse music clubs as well as its most beautiful. Tony imagined the Falcon as a community-focused, multi-art, and musician-centric institution. At its pre-pandemic peak, the Falcon featured music on two stages nightly, rotating art exhibits, the Avalon Archives Museum, two restaurants, and a network of trails and decks overlooking Marlboro Falls.
In 1979, Tony attended SUNY New Paltz, where he met the love of his life, his wife of 37 years Julie Farrell. They were married in 1984 and had four children: Adrianne, Svetlana, Lee, and Julian. In 1983, Tony graduated from New Paltz with a degree in Environmental Science. Over his scientific career, he operated and designed several wastewater treatment facilities throughout the Hudson Valley and owned Environmental Labworks, a water testing laboratory located in the same building as The Falcon.
Tony was a renaissance man: artist, entrepreneur, scientist, engineer, architect, builder, pilot, teacher and environmental conservationist. He was generous and adventurous, and he loved to travel the world. In 2020, during the pandemic, he designed and built the Marlboro Nature Trail. He recently took up horseback riding and owned two horses, Houdini and Cinch.
Tony is survived by his wife and kids; his mother; his six siblings (Gennaro, Julia Ruffo, Eddie, Tommy, Freddy, and Christopher); his lifelong best friend Cliff ‘Sonny’ Benson; his adopted children Suong Huynh and Javier Osorio; his children’s partners, Conor Shea, Alex Neckles, Jessica Brush, and Kaitlyn VanOrman; and his extended family of Falcon friends.
Public celebrations of his life will be held the weekend of November 6. More details will be determined and posted at www.liveatthefalcon.com. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Amnesty International.”