Pedro Fiallo has a lot of loves: baseball, helping the community and most of all, Zenaida Fiallo, his bride of more than 60 years.
Fiallo, 81, is a very active volunteer. It’s a nearly life-long habit of serving children and his fellow elders and veterans.
Fiallo wears several hats. As a non-stop networker, if he can make a connection for a person that will help them or their business, he’s got a deep Rolodex.
American Legion Post 144 recently named him its vice commander. On behalf of the Legion, Fiallo has led health care and insurance fairs for elders and veterans and draws on his circle of contacts in the medical sector.
He is also publicist for the Legion and the Miami Lakes Elderly Affairs and Veterans committees.
“I love what I do,” Fiallo said. He says he keeps moving because doctors tell him that contributes to longevity.
Fiallo arrived in the United States in 1962 from Cuba. He joined the United States Army and was stationed in Cuba. He retired as a Pvt. 1st Class.
After his discharge from the military, the now defunct Kenmore Hotel in Boston, Mass. hired him to wash dishes.
“After eight months, I was a dishwasher one day and then assistant manager,” Fiallo said.
He went on to wait tables at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Boston and rose to dining room captain. He then moved to Miami in 1969 and drove for UPS.
That’s when Fiallo’s volunteering began. He coached youth baseball with the Khoury League at Babcock Park in Hialeah, served as executive director and raised funds for the program.
“I took kids to Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Mexico…” Fiallo said of his competitive teams.
Medals and plaques for his work with kids line an entire room of his Miami-Dade County apartment. He is proud of his honorary diploma awarded by Barbara Goleman Senior High School.
He co-owned Fiallo Flowers with his father, a landscaping business.
Fiallo was also an executive with Capital Investor Finance, a residential mortgage lender.
Fiallo and his wife have lived in Miami Lakes and in the area for 21 years. They have two adult children, Peter and Zenaida, and five grandchildren.
Q: Where are you from and what is your background?
A: Cuba. [I came to the United States and] I had just turned 18 in 1962. I joined the Army right away.
Q: What do you like most about Miami Lakes?
A: They treat me like family. I would say the mayor and all the councilmen and all the people. I love my elderly group.
Q: What do you dislike about the town?
A: The traffic is the problem, and I think we’re working on that.
Q: What are the responsibilities of your current position and what do you hope to accomplish?
A: I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, helping the American Legion. We’re trying to raise money [for a monument in Veterans Park] … I promote it as much as possible. It’s going to cost $400,000, but I think we can raise the money.
Q: What would you rather have done, what was your fantasy career?
A: If I had money, I would have helped children [as a philanthropist].
Q: What books are you reading, what podcasts are you listening to?
A: I am going to start reading “La Gran Estafa: [Le Penetración del Kremlin en Iberoamérica] [The Yenan Way: The Kremlin’s Penetration of South America]” by Eudocio Ravines.
Q: What have you streamed/binge-watched on TV?
A: “Hawaii Five-O” and those types of programs.
Q: Where did you last travel to on vacation?
A: Vanderbilt Beach in Naples.