NEW SCOTLAND — Mark Fiato embodied the phrase to live life and each day to its fullest, his daughter, Amy Fiato said.
Mr. Fiato died on Sunday, May 8, after a bicycling accident on Saturday afternoon. He was 53.

"He really had that nature of always wanting to do some-thing," Ms. Fiato said. Her father was so active, he sometimes wouldn’t even stop to catch his breath, she said.

He was also a devoted father to three daughters — Amy Suzanne, 23; Kristin Gale, 20; and Heather Kathryn, 14.

Their father loved the outdoors and was always up for an out-door sport, whether dirt biking or hiking, Amy Fiato said. As an outdoor enthusiast, his two main passions were motorcycling and bicycling.

The family wrote in a tribute that he "went cycling with friends on a ride that will never end."

"He was a great guy, full of energy," Ms. Fiato said. He’d always make sure that everyone was included and that everyone felt welcome, she said.

If her friends or the friends of her two sisters were having a rough time, or if they were just bored and lonely, he would be there, Ms. Fiato said.

"Every time he would take my youngest sister out, he’d take a cousin out, too," she said.

"His family was real important to him — he was a man that had a sense of values, that is really rare in this world," said Jim Bethell, a cycling friend. "His daughters always came first."

"He’d always say — just go out to enjoy the ride," said Jacques Roeth, another biking friend from the Mohawk Hudson Cycling Club.

Mr. Fiato would ride because he wanted to be with friends, and for the exercise, Mr. Roeth said.

As bike companions, they would talk as they rode along and sometimes they would be working so hard that they couldn’t talk, Mr. Roeth said.

"Mark was no slouch either, he could beat me up the hill all the time," Mr. Roeth said.

"He wanted to spend every moment with family and friends and make everyone else around him happy," Ms. Fiato said.

The thing Mr. Roeth says he remembers most about Mr. Fiato is that "he always had a positive thing to say."

"He always had a smile — I never saw him depressed," Mr. Roeth said.

"He was a really unique individual. No matter who it was, he’d welcome them with open arms...and you’d walk way with a good feeling," said Mr. Bethell.

Mr. Bethell met Mr. Fiato four years ago in the drive-through of Taco Pronto, the Guilderland restaurant that Mr. Fiato owned and operated for 25 years.

When he was in the drive-through, Mr. Bethell said, he had his bicycle on his car’s rack and Mr. Fiato asked him, "What the heck is that doing up there" You should be riding it."

"He’s been there for me ever since...Mark was a good friend...I’m one of hundreds who will miss him greatly," Mr. Bethell said.

Easy rider
Frank Palmeri, who has known Mr. Fiato for 20 years, said that in Mr. Fiato’s younger years, he was a motorcycle racer at the track out in Duanesburg.

He was the best rider in the area, said Mr. Palmeri. "The bike and him were fluid in motion as one," he said.

Although Fiato had turned in the racing trips to be a family man, he still road his motorcycles recreationally

"He’s always been interested in motorcycles, way before I was born," Ms. Fiato said. She said in the last five years, she has seen her father’s interest drift toward bicycling. She thinks it was be-cause he enjoyed the challenge and the exercise.

"He took us for motorcycle rides," Ms. Fiato said. She said her father wanted to share his interests with his daughters.

Whenever he was working on a motorcycle, or restoring old bikes, he’d take his children out in the garage to help him.

"He was the kind of dad that wanted to show us everything," Ms. Fiato said.

Every time he was in the garage fixing anything, a car or a motorcycle or even a vacuum cleaner, she said, "Even if you didn’t want anything to do with it, he’d share with us everything he did."

"He always wanted us to try new things," Ms. Fiato said. "He was a very supportive father who was very involved in all of our lives." He stressed that education was very important and taught his daughters that they should "always think of other people and be very nice to others," she said.

Ms. Fiato thinks one of the reasons her father liked the restaurant business was because of all the different people he could talk to and meet.

He had an upbeat, dynamic, and charismatic personality, the family wrote in a tribute.

"My father was very independent; he knew who he was and what he wanted. He knew actually what he wanted, and how to get it," Ms. Fiato said.

He was very sure of himself, she said, and had a strong work ethic; these are the reasons why he started a restaurant business at the age of 28 and has been successful at ever since, she said.Ms. Fiato said her father was very social. "For anything and everything you could even think to have a party, he would throw one," she said.

In the summer, Mr. Fiato and Mr. Palmeri would go to the Antique Engine Club’s "Gas Up" in Schoharie. Fiato had re-built a pre-World War II motorcycle, an Indian Motorcycle, Mr. Palmeri said, which used to be the other big American brand name along-side Harley-Davidson.

\Mr. Fiato was a sponsor of the Electric City Motorcycle Riders Club and an active member of the American Motorcycle Association.

Mr. Palmeri wrote in a letter to the editor this week: "I’d ask him over and over again to attend rallies with me all over the country and in Canada, but he always said no, preferring the thrilling early morning out-and-back rides so he could spend the afternoons with his kids. He was the best father a kid could have."

Mr. Mark Fiato was born in Albany but spent his childhood in New Salem off of New Salem South Road. He went to Voorheesville’s high school, and he moved into the village of Voorheesville when his eldest daughter, Amy, was a toddler, she said.

His mother, Kale Fiato, now lives in Albany, and Mr. Fiato’s father, Salvatore, and his wife, Christine, live in Slingerlands.

Mr. Fiato is survived by three daughters, Amy Suzanne, Kristin Kale, and Heather Kathryn, all of Voorheesville .

Other survivors include his four siblings: Mick Fiato and his wife, Gayle, of Boston; Martha Fiato, of Guilderland; Mona George and her husband, Kevin, of Voorheesville; and Miriam Fiato and her husband, Brian Lainhart, of Voorheesville.
He is the uncle and social director of Sasha Durand and her husband, Paul; Sonya Pasquini and her husband, Brian Degener; Jarad, Peter, Hayley, and Gavin George; Lacey Goodrich; and Rachel Lainhart.

He is also survived by the mother of his four children, Laura Williams Fiato.

A newborn son, Paul Mark Fiato, died before him.

Funeral services will be held today, May 12, at 8 p.m. at New Comer-Cannon Family Funeral Home, 343 New Karner Road, Colonie, on Route 155, south of Central Avenue. Calling hours will be held today, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home.

Interment will be Saturday morning at the Jerusalem Cemetery, in Feura Bush.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Capital District Cancer Resource Foundation, 317 South Manning Boulevard, Albany, NY 12208.