Joseph Anton Lent (Tony)

Quite A Guy!

Lent, Joseph Anton, “Tony” passed on peacefully November 29, 2022, at North Florida Hospital in Gainesville, Florida.

He was greatly loved by all who knew him. Tony was born on January 4, 1944, in Stamford Connecticut, the son of Professor Joseph M. Lent and Louise M. Lent. He was raised in Storrs, Connecticut. He attended Storrs Grammar School and Edwin O. Smith High School. He enlisted in the Navy and became a sonarman aboard a destroyer. He was stationed in Jacksonville at the Mayport Naval base. He had many tours in the Mediterranean and saw duty during the Dominican Crisis. After his service, Tony became a manager at the WT Grant Company in Southington, Connecticut. It was while training at the WT Grant Company in Norwich, Connecticut, that he met his future wife, Mary S. Gallagher. Tony and Mary were married on November 7, 1970.

Combining his love of cars and racing with his new found retail skills, Tony opened his first store, a Western Auto Store, in Coventry Connecticut. Subsequently, the couple moved to Storrs Ct. Eventually Tony moved his Western Auto Store to Windham Ct. There he built a shopping center. He purchased an old 1950s diner and moved it to his shopping center site. There he refurbished it into a throwback to the 1950s style diner. It’s called the Aero Diner today.

All through this time, Tony had a racing team that featured Western Auto Pro Stock Race Cars. Tony’s team raced in Thompson, Connecticut, almost every weekend.

Getting restless with the political lay of the land, Tony, like his mother before him, became very active in politics and served as chairman of the Mansfield Republican town committee. He started a newspaper called The Mansfield Independent News.

As the years passed Tony’s thoughts went back to his Navy years and his love for Northern Florida. In 2016 he and Mary purchased their retirement home in East Palatka. Situated on a canal leading to the St Johns River, Tony enjoyed his favorite pastimes boating and fishing.

Always the entrepreneur, in recent years Tony purchased and sold several Florida tracts of land. Currently, he developed a fruit/berry farm on 10 acres. He purchased land on a lake for future development in Crescent City, Florida.

Thinking of Tony you envision him sitting on his tractor, stoking his wood stove, working on his old blue pickup, boiling sap to make maple syrup, chopping and stacking wood, and driving his pontoon boat down the canal. Tony will be sorely missed.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Gallagher Lent; daughter, Sheila A. Lent; and son, Daniel M. Lent; his two sisters, Ivy L. Plis and Linda M. Keane; five grandchildren, Kathleen G. Carey, Maeve L. Carey, Daniel J. Carey, Peyton M. Lent, Finn A. Lent; three nephews, Michael B. Plis, Christopher M. Keane, and Kevin J. Keane; and one niece, Jennifer A. Plis.

No services are planned at this time. Information will be forthcoming. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, 103 Vision Way, Bloomfield, CT 06002, 860-243-5200