Martha Ann Cusimano

Martha Ann Hart Cusimano

January 27, 1943 – November 30, 2025, Jubilee Year of Hope

Martha Ann Hart Cusimano, community leader and passionate advocate for the hungry and vulnerable, died the evening of November 30, 2025, at the age of 82, at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. She was surrounded by her husband of 63 years, James J. Cusimano, and her four children. Among her last words were "Gotta go to God," and "Promise me you will complete building of the Lima Center food pantry, promise me," true to her passions in life.

Martha Cusimano was honored by Osceola County with the "Woman Warrior" award, for her work to help the hungry and marginalized in Central Florida. She and husband Jim have been a team since meeting as teens at St. Aloysius Gonzaga parish in Buffalo, NY. They helped organize the food pantry at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church that provides food to over 70,000 food insecure people annually, including during the Covid pandemic. They serve on the building committee for the Lima Center, where Martha helped to raise millions to build the planned new food pantry and community center. They served as leaders in fundraising to build the new St. Rose of Lima Church, which opened in 2017. They founded DUO: Do Unto Others, an initiative with Solivita neighbors, which raised over $700,000 for the pantry in the ensuing years. They served on the board of Habitat for Humanity Osceola for eight years, and working with Osceola County, provided nine homes for people who needed affordable housing. Martha gave Congressional testimony for the Farm Bill aid to food pantries at the U.S. Capital. She did all this while battling breast cancer for 19 years.

Making a difference started early with Martha. A native of Buffalo, NY, from a family deeply rooted in faith and service, her dad taught her to swim in Lake Erie. When its waters were threatened by pollution in the 60's, she was part of a movement of Western NY women who pushed for cleaning up the waters. Martha was a lifelong swimmer.

In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Martha earned a BA in business and marketing from DeSales University, graduating cum laude while working in marketing and community relations at DeSales University and St. Luke's hospital, and raising a family. At Lehigh University, she completed graduate coursework in American history; was a member of the first Leadership Bethlehem class; served as vice chair of the Bethlehem Community Foundation; was honored with the Miss Pennsylvania Woman of Achievement Award; and was one of three to receive the Bethlehem Star Award from the Burn Prevention Foundation for her work raising millions for that charity. As founder and executive director of the Greater Lehigh Valley Auto Dealers Association, she not only produced auto shows, but she created a charitable foundation, and helped donate millions to local charities and scholarships. She was a charter member of the Women's Automotive Association. At Notre Dame of Bethlehem parish, she founded the School Advisory Association, served on the parish council and as a beautiful leader of song.

In retirement she enjoyed making pilgrimages to the Holy Land with the Jesuits of America Media, and to the Marian sites of Knock, Ireland, Fatima, and Lourdes. A dual Irish American citizen, her family helped to build the church in Knock, Ireland, at the site of the miraculous sighting of Mary; Martha remained close with her Irish family, as well as her American and Mexican family and friends. Martha treasured her friends from Poinciana, FL, from St. Rose of Lima Church and the Solivita Community, her friends from Pennsylvania, and her Buffalo and Nardin Academy alums and friends.

She was a life-long partner and devoted wife to James J. Cusimano for sixty three years; a dedicated mother to Joseph Cusimano (FL), Maryann Cusimano Love and husband Richard (Fairhaven, MD), Theresa Cusimano (FL), and Patricia Cusimano Gomas and husband Jeff (Sebastian, FL); a proud grandmother to Megan Cusimano Hower and husband Jim Hower (Rising Sun, MD) and Adam Cusimano (Phoenix, AZ); and Maria, Ricky and Ava Love (Fairhaven, MD); a great grandmother to Jack and Lydia Hower and Aria Grace Cusimano; and a godmother to nieces Katie Gill and Nina Hart.

She survived her parents, Thomas J Hart and Mary Hoare Daley Hart of Cheektowaga, NY as their eldest daughter. She treasured her stepmother Inez Senger Hart. Her six Hart siblings survive her, John Hart and his wife Yana of West Falls, NY; Mary Evelyn Hart McCarthy and Jack McCarthy of Rochester, NY; Thomas Hart and Kay Golden of Chicago, IL; Kathleen Hart Gill and John Gill of Bethlehem, PA; Paul Hart and Polly of Williamsville, NY: and Peter Hart of Seattle, WA; and her dear cousin "sister" Emma Berst and family, of Valladolid, Mexico. Her brother Christopher died shortly after childbirth; she now joins him. She enjoyed family reunions with 26 nieces and nephews and countless cousins, from the US, Mexico, and Ireland.

Join Jim Cusimano and family for Martha's Celebration of Life.

Jan. 1, 2026, viewing from 5 to 8 pm at the Osceola Memory Gardens, 3175 Pleasant Hill Road, Poinciana, FL. 34746

Jan. 2, 2026, funeral mass at 12:30 pm at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 3860 Pleasant Hill Road, Kissimmee, FL. 34746

Jan. 3 at 10 am, burial in Oakland Cemetery, Haines City, FL

Honor Martha's Final Wish: Complete the Lima Center - Food Pantry & Community Center

In her final moments on November 30, 2025, Martha asked only this: "Promise me you will complete the Lima Center." After nearly two decades battling cancer while feeding over 70,000 neighbors a year through the St. Rose of Lima Food Pantry, Martha helped raise more than $4.1 million toward the new Lima Center- Food Pantry &Community Center-leaving us just $300,000 from breaking ground. This center will expand food storage, add a commercial kitchen, and create community spaces that carry her mission forward. Every gift, no matter the amount, brings us closer to fulfilling her dying wish and feeding families in her honor. Please help us finish what Martha started.

Donate Today: https://gofund.me/ef3e926a4