O. Mario Favorito, a longtime Concord civic leader and the town's 2024 Honored Citizen, died Friday, Sept. 4, at his summer residence. He was 88.

His wife Corina and daughters Maria and Laura Grace were at his bedside, The Concord Bridge reported. Favorito had lived in Concord for 56 years, serving on three town boards and spending more than 25 years as a trustee of the Concord Free Public Library.

Concord's town flag will fly at half-staff Thursday, Sept. 10, in Favorito's honor. The Honored Citizen award has been given for more than 50 years to a resident who has provided extraordinary volunteer service. Favorito's name is inscribed on a plaque at the Town House.

His death comes days after the passing of Fritz Kussin, another Concord Honored Citizen, as we reported Sept. 4.

Favorito was born April 16, 1938, on Union Street in Brooklyn and grew up on President Street in South Brooklyn's Italian neighborhood. As a boy, he would wake before school and ride the subway to exercise trail horses in city parks. At 17, he joined New York's Seventh Regiment and served as a reservist. In 1957, his unit guarded Queen Elizabeth II during her first state visit to the United States as monarch, according to the obituary.

He earned his undergraduate degree from St. Francis College in three years, majoring in economics and philosophy. He earned his law degree at St. John's University Law School, where he served as editor of the Law Review. After graduation, he worked in the office of Robert M. Morgenthau, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, then joined the Kennedy administration at the Department of the Navy Office of the General Counsel, working on the Polaris Nuclear Submarine program.

It was in Washington that he met Corina, who was working in the U.S. Office of Education. They married in July 1966. Favorito later worked at United Aircraft Corp. in West Hartford, Connecticut, on high-speed train development, then was hired as general counsel for a division of W.R. Grace & Co. in Cambridge. In 1970, he moved his young family to Concord.

He filled out the town's volunteer "green card" and soon answered a call from then-Town Manager Paul Flynn to serve on the Bus Transportation Committee, helping establish free public transit. According to a March 2024 Concord Bridge profile, he went on to serve on the Planning Board from 1975 to 1981 and the Zoning Board of Appeals from 1985 to 1991.

His longest commitment was to the Concord Free Public Library, where he served more than 25 years as a trustee, vice president and treasurer. He capped that service by writing the library's official history covering its last 50 years, published as part of its sesquicentennial.

"My style has always been to be what I describe as a 'backbencher,'" Favorito said in the March 2024 profile. "I'm not usually out front on things. I just do what's good for the community and then just leave it at that."

Susan McCrory, chair of the Public Ceremonies and Celebrations Committee, said in the same Concord Bridge profile that Favorito's contributions to Concord "extend far beyond" the library and "have helped shape our community in important ways."

Outside civic life, Favorito summited Mount Washington several times and loved walking through Great Meadows in Concord. He spent summers in Rhode Island, where he taught his daughters to sail on Narragansett Bay.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Corina; daughter Maria, her husband James Raffel and granddaughter Sofia; and daughter Laura Grace, her husband Chris Baffa and grandson Alessandro. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Vincent.

Visiting hours are Thursday, Sept. 10, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Dee Funeral Home, 27 Bedford St., Concord Center. A funeral Mass will be celebrated Friday, Sept. 11, at 11 a.m. at St. Irene Parish, 181 East St., Carlisle. Burial follows at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.

The family asks that donations be made to the Concord Free Public Library or a local community library in Favorito's honor.