August Danny Golf At JFK

     There wasn’t much you could say about Daniel Ferrante who worked at JFK International Airport in New York for BAX Global Forwarders.
     So for years, Danny, as people called him, went largely unnoticed about his business, as part of the huge infrastructure of forwarders and brokers that operate on and off JFK Airport in big offices and atop bodegas; in purpose-built corporate parks, and even in neighborhoods zoned as both residential and commercial, where in the summer kids play stick ball while trucks just down the block unload twenty-foot containers.
     A lot of people, in a very understated way, knew Danny until something happened to him three years ago.
     Danny died from cancer.
     Then all of a sudden like an ominous dark cloud that comes up and can be seen far off in the distance growing closer and more threatening, a wave of collective sorrow struck people from one end of the JFK air cargo community to the other.
     Danny died and everybody who knew him felt like they had lost family.
     Turns out when Danny died, a voice cried out a grief beyond JFK and across America to air cargo people in many places and job functions.
     Danny Ferrante, without ever getting a headline or looking for credit, was this super good guy.
     “Danny always played it square and went out of his way to try and give business to airlines that had space to sell, and he always helped just about anyone who asked him,” his friend Farouk Salehjee, USA Cargo Manager at Gulf Air said.
     Farouk spoke for many people who, once Danny died, felt adrift in a business that some might think at times lacks heart and caring.
     But Danny made people care, because Danny was a good guy and that was enough.
     Two years ago they gathered in his honor and played some golf and raised money at JFK for charities that Danny favored.
His widow and kids showed up to hear an outpouring of love from some otherwise tough air cargo business people from airlines to trucker, brokers and forwarders.
     Last year the group gathered again in Danny’s name and even more people showed up.
     This year, this month on August 23,once again air cargo will gather for some more Danny Golf at an affair that is now billed as “The Premier Event of J.F.K Intl. Airport.”
     It’s funny when you think about it, that people always seem to come together after a loss.
     But as it turns out Danny is still among us doing what he always did best, paying his love of life and other people forward.
     So on Thursday August 23 at Stonebridge Golf Links & Country Club, 2000 Raynors Way, Smithtown, N.Y the “Friends of Danny Ferrante” will hold a Third Annual Danny Ferrante Golf Classic & Gala welcoming his many friends to join the occasion.
All net proceeds from this event will be donated, in Danny’s memory, to cancer research.
     The program also includes brunch – “win a car in hole in one contest” –cocktails –dinner- trophies- gifts - and prizes galore.
     More Info: Joe Cipolla, AGI Logistics (516) 316-6877 jcipolla.jfk@agilogistics.com; Ed Radburn, MSN Air Services, (718) 244-0491 edradburn@msnairservice.com; Joe Daidone, Expeditors International, (516) 318-2095. Reggie Bal, Etihad Airlines, (917) 940-6972; Jeff Yim, Bax Global, (516) 852-6801.