Three generations of hands on leadership: From the left, Joseph J. Sisca, Sr., Joseph J. Sisca, Jr., and Joseph J. Sisca, III.

Calabria, Italy, birthplace of stonemason Charles Angelo Sisca

Charles Angelo Sisca helped to build the Kensico Dam, Valhalla, NY

He built the first three story walk up apartment building in Harrison, NY.

Joseph J. Sisca, Sr. was one of the original Navy SeaBees. Their motto was "can do" and this was their logo.

JJSisca directed the construction of the British Airways terminal at New York's JFK airport.

The Sisca story in America starts in 1898 with the arrival in New York of stone mason Charles Angelo Sisca, from Calabria, Italy. This was the same year that the City of New York incorporated the Bronx,·Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. The demand for greater water supply for the city led to expansion of the water supply system and the creation of a new reservoir behind an enlarged Kensico Dam, in Valhalla, NY, which Charles Angelo Sisca helped to build.

Although he lost one eye to a stone cutting accident, Mr. Sisca’s hard work and forward thinking led him to create a business which centered around helping other Italian immigrants to find housing, banking services and work in their new country. Many of these newcomers settled in the Harrison, NY area because it was the location of stone quarries used to build the Kensico Dam. Mr. Sisca next opened a grocery store which grew to three locations, and a wholesale meat distribution business. Then Charles Angelo Sisca built the first 3-story walk up apartment house in Harrison, NY.

During the Great Depression, Charles Angelo Sisca’s small empire crumpled. He had eight children, though, and all survived. One of his sons, Joseph J. Sisca, was born in 1914. At the tender age of 13, Joseph began working for his uncle building roads.

When World War II broke out, Joseph J. Sisca was one of the first men to answer the call for experienced construction workers to form a new unit of warrior builders, nicknamed the Sea Bees, based on the initials of Construction Battalions of the United States Navy. With the unofficial motto of "Can Do!" the SeaBees built military bases, bulldozed and paved thousands of miles of roadway and airstrips, and completed crucial construction projects, sometimes having to fight the enemy at the same time. Although a medical condition caused J.J. Sisca to leave the SeaBees in 1943, the Seabees never left J.J. Sisca. The “can do” motto characterized his career and his life, and it is the core motto of today’s Sisca Group.

After returning from the war, J.J. Sisca and two of his brothers were chosen to build the personal residence of Mr. William L.Crow, on Long Island Sound, in Larchmont NY. The job was no sooner completed than an enormous Northeaster storm came roaring up the Eastern seaboard, and the new Crow residence was in jeopardy. A desperate William Crow asked the Sisca brothers to help save his home. J.J. Sisca recruited 30 friends to work around the clock, stacking sandbags, successfully protecting the building. Mr. Crow was so pleased with their effort that when J.J. Sisca presented the bill, Mr. Crow doubled it.

Mr. Crow was president of Crow-Steers-Shepherd, a huge construction company which was chosen to head the world’s largest construction consortium in the building of Wheelus Air Force base in Libya. Mr. Crow asked J.J. Sisca to go to Tripoli to oversee all of the concrete and masonry construction on the project, which took years. During that time, Mr. Sisca brought two of his young sons to live with him in Libya and the boys observed history in the making as the base was built.

While in Libya, J.J. Sisca, Sr. met an eager young lawyer/accountant named Jim Conforti. The two men realized that with Conforti as the “inside” man and Sisca as the “field” man, they could join forces to form a successful new construction company.

Conforti returned to Scarsdale, NY, where he took over the John H. Eisele construction company, and hired J.J. Sisca, Sr. as the first employee. The company was called Conforti & Eisele. With J.J. Sisca, Sr. as Exec. VP in charge of field operations, it became one of the top 50 general contractors in America in the 1950’s and 1960’s. J.J. Sisca Sr. supervised construction of many high profile buildings, such as the BOAC terminal at Kennedy Airport, Gimbels East, Macy’s, Bamberger’s, Saks, corporate facilities for IBM, Litton, Irving Trust, Western Union, Crum & Forster, as well as hospitals, religious and educational institutions.

At the same time, J.J. Sisca, Sr. was preparing his sons for careers in construction. One son, Joe, Jr., attended high school and college, but worked every summer for Conforti & Eisele. In 1968, he graduated from University of Detroit, with a BS degree in Civil engineering. Although it was understood that there was a place for him at Conforti & Eisele, upon his graduation Joe, Jr. accepted a position with Mobil Oil as a field engineer for three years.

Joe Sisca, Sr., had expected an equity share of Conforti & Eisele, but as time passed, he finally had concluded that there would be no such opportunity, so he left the company to work independently.

Around the same time, Joe Jr. left Mobil to build homes with his brother in Fairfield, Ct. There he met and became friendly with a Harvard trained architect named Arnie Weil. The two friends founded a business they first called “Remodeling Consultants.” Through contacts, they found out about and bid upon a huge Mitchell Lama housing project known as Jonas Bronck Housing, that was to be built on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. Like the proverbial dog who chases the bus and wonders what to do after he catches it, the young builders knew that to pull off construction of such a large project, they needed someone in their organization with the kind of huge job experience both young men lacked, and as luck would have it, J.J. Sisca Jr., knew one such man-- his father, J.J. Sisca, Sr.

Thus in 1972, two generations of men named Joseph John Sisca were united in one organization, J.J. Sisca and Associates Building Corporation. A printed announcement was sent out industrywide . It proclaimed: “$400 Million Dollars of Construction Experience Available For Your Next Project” and listed nearly four dozen projects directed by J.J. Sisca, Sr.

Over the next 35 years, the Siscas built a myriad of major construction projects ranging from Olympic Ski Jumps in Lake Placid, NY, to a post office and vehicle maintenance facility, from shopping centers, to senior housing, from luxury condominiums to class "a" office facilities.

Joseph J. Sisca, III was brought up around his father and grandfather's business, and worked within the company summers and during the time between college and law school. He is a licensed attorney who joined the family business again in 2006. Today's Sisca group reflects the Sisca traditions, as well as the talents of the other company employee/partners.