Mario Anthony Balestreri

1/11/1951 - 5/28/2010

Mario Anthony Balestreri passed away on May 28, 2010 surrounded by his family at his favorite vacation home in Discovery Bay, CA.

Mario was born in Monterey on January 11, 1951. As a lifelong native of Monterey, he attended grade school at San Carlos Elementary School, high school at Junipero Memorial and graduated from Monterey High School in 1969. Growing up, he enjoyed playing football and baseball, where he started on the varsity squad his freshman year. He also loved to hunt and spent time with his family and friends.

As he got older, he was a very avid boater and enjoyed taking his children and grandchildren out on his boats, where he would always make sure there was enough time to take the kids out for a ride on the tube. Mario loved going to his grandchildren’s sporting events and completed numerous marathons. One of his greatest accomplishments was completing his first marathon in less than six and a half hours and being one of the top athletes in his division. In the three marathons he completed with TEAM in Training, he raised $75,000 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, his favorite charity. Mario had a passion for construction and started his very successful company, Bethel Construction in 1987.

Mario is survived by his wife of 41 years, Tina Balestreri. He is preceded in death by his father, Mario J. Balestreri and is survived by his mother Crocifissa Balestreri, his two sons Mario Balestreri (Josephine) and John Balestreri (Michelle) and his grandchildren Sarah, Mario, Nikolas, Anthony, Cristina, John, Andrew, and Anna. He is also survived by his sister Sarah Flores (Michael) and brother Phillip Balestreri (Victoria) and his many nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be Fri., 6/4 from 1 to 7 pm; Vigil at 7 pm at Mission Mortuary. Funeral Mass on Sat., 6/5 at 12 Noon at San Carlos Cathedral.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Mario’s honor to his favorite charity,

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Donations can be made by visiting

www.LLS.org. For those wanting to donate by check, please reference “In memory

of Mario Balestreri” in the memo section of your check and send donations to: The

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 675 N. First St., Ste 1100, San Jose, CA 95112.

Visit www.missionmortuary.com for guestbook.