Generations of Newmarket men and boys came to sit in Giuseppe D'Agrosa's barber's chair on Newmarket’s Main Street.
His barbershop, which opened around 1962, was a fixture on the downtown street. For more than 50 years, "Joe the Barber" built a loyal client base and community.
“He, thankfully, had a lot of people who really liked him and helped him out,” his daughter, Anna D’Agrosa, recounted about her father’s career. “He said four generations (of a family), he was cutting hair for. He was quite proud.”
The family and community are mourning after the barber passed away Jan. 15 at age 89. D’Agrosa was a well-known figure in the Main Street community, before retiring around 2017.
D’Agrosa immigrated to Canada from Italy in 1960, determined to build a better life for his future family, his obituary said. He was a barber in Italy but started off doing professional boxing and dishwashing here before finding a way to open his shop.
“He had to work odd jobs because he didn’t speak English. He could only get jobs that didn’t require him to interact with his language,” his daughter said. “He wasn't overly keen on the city. To be away from the city, on weekends, he would travel north to hunt and fish.”
Although D’agrosa began his Canadian life in Toronto, his daughter said he came to find and enjoy Newmarket when he would travel north. He decided to settle there to open his shop and become integrated into the community.
“He was good at what he did. When he started, he made sure he had some clients pose for him with various haircuts,” D’Agrosa said. “He was just a friendly guy who just made everyone feel at home, and they could hang out and talk and say whatever they wanted.”
But the man loved being outdoors more than inside his shop, D’Agrosa recounted, spending time hunting whenever he could.
“He was a man’s man,” she said. “Every spare minute he had outside of work hours, he spent doing something outside.”
Another hobby was playing the saxophone for several years with the Newmarket Citizens Band, something D’Agrosa said they did together for a few years.
"Looking back, it was two years that I was happy that I shared with him… It was nice. I didn’t realize he was as good as he was," she said.
Over his decades on Main Street, he became well-known in the community. Then-mayor Tony Van Bynen called him a "virtual icon in our community” during a visit and commemoration for D’Agrosa’s 80th birthday in 2016.
For D'Agrosa, retirement was difficult, his daughter recounted. Being a barber was a big part of his identity.
“He was opinionated. He liked being the centre of attention, and he liked telling stories,” she recounted. “He was forced to retire because he wore out his back from standing up so much. Otherwise, he was 80 years old. He would have kept going if he wasn’t in so much pain.”
One of his closest friends and customers, Dr. Keith Watson, wrote a tribute to D’Agrosa.
“Lift your hearts in thankfulness for a father whose life’s dedication was family, home, wholesome food, his shop patrons and lastly his passion, nature,” Watson wrote. “Joe lived by example, true to his words.”