Photo from Library of Congress
Birth Name: Fiorello Enrico La Guardia
Date of Birth: December 11, 1882
Place of Birth: Greenwich Village, New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Death: September 20, 1947
Place of Death: Riverdale, The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Ethnicity:
*Italian (father)
*Italian Jewish (mother)
Fiorello La Guardia was an American politician. He served as Mayor of New York City for three terms from 1934 to 1945 as a Republican. Previously he had been elected to Congress in 1916 and 1918, and again from 1922 through 1930.
Fiorello was the son of Achille Luigi Carlo La Guardia and Irene Luzzatto Coen. His father was an Italian composer, from Foggia, Apulia, and was a non practicing Catholic. His mother was born in Rijeka, Austria-Hungary (now Croatia), and was of an Italian Jewish background. Fiorello’s parents married in Trieste, Austria-Hungary (now Italy).
Fiorello was raised an Episcopalian and practiced that religion all his life.
Fiorello’s paternal grandparents were Raffaele La Guardia and Rosa Di Maria/De Maria.
Fiorello’s maternal grandparents were Isac Abram Coen and Fiorina Luzzatto. Fiorina was a member of the prestigious Italian-Jewish family of scholars, kabbalists, and poets and had among her ancestors the famous rabbi Samuel David Luzzatto. Fiorello was named after her.
Fiorello was a polyglot, being able to speak seven languages: English, Italian, French, German, Hungarian, Hebrew, and Yiddish.
Sources: http://www.findagrave.com
Information about Fiorello La Guardia’s father (in Italian): http://letteremeridiane.blogspot.it