23-year-old Mepham grad killed in Wantagh Parkway crash

A Bellmore man was killed in a car crash on the Wantagh Parkway on Saturday evening. Zachary Avanzato, 23, was driving a 1972 Chevrolet Impala westbound when his car slammed into a tree around 6:20 p.m., just north of the Sunrise Highway, New York State Police said.

Avanzato was rushed to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. He was a 2005 graduate of Mepham High School. Police did not offer a cause of the crash at press time.

Avanzato is survived by his parents, Phillip and Kathleen; siblings, Lyssa, Dean and Ian; grandparents, Joe and Virginia, and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

A funeral Mass was to be celebrated for Avanzato at St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Church in Bellmore on Tuesday. The C.S. Bartholomew & Son Funeral Home in Bellmore made the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Long Beach Humane Society.

No further details were available at press time.