Insalaco
The Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce will host its inaugural Titan of Industry Award celebration on Friday, April 12, at The Banks – A Waterfront Venue, honoring Sandy Insalaco Sr.
The Titan of Industry Award will recognize and honor those who have paved the way with their leadership, innovation and outstanding achievements. The award will celebrate business excellence, acknowledging established giants that continually push the boundaries of excellence, setting standards that inspire others to reach greater heights.
Insalaco was born in Pittston and went to West Pittston High School. After graduation, he joined his older brother, Michael, in the grocery business. Two years later, he became a partner with Michael and operated a small grocery store on South Main Street in Pittston. The two opened their first supermarket in 1966.
Later brothers Leonard and Vincent, along with brother-in-law Leonard Dixon, joined the company. That company grew to 14 supermarkets and employed 1,700 people in Northeastern Pennsylvania when it was sold in 1993.
In addition to the supermarkets, the company owned and operated several real estate properties located in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. The real estate consisted of warehousing, office buildings, shopping centers and free-standing drug stores. Insalaco was responsible for site selection, financing and development of the real estate properties.
At age 62, Sandy invested in Nature’s Way Purewater Inc., which was a small beverage bottler. He became the president of the company and changed the name to US Hydrations. The company grew from six employees to 145 and is now one of the largest bottlers in the United States.
Today US Hydrations bottles more than 2,000 bottles of beverage per minute and occupies more than one million square feet of warehouse space in four facilities located in Greater Pittston.
Today, Insalaco serves as chairman of the board of US Hydrations.
He has served on the board of directors of United Penn Bank in Wilkes-Barre, as chairman of Landmark Community
Bank, chairman of the Board of Affiliated Food Distributors Inc. and served 16 years on the board of trustees
of Misericordia University where he was chairman for five years.
While at Misericordia, he worked on capital campaigns to raise money for several initiatives to improve and grow the university.
Insalaco was married to Marlene Nardone for more than 50 years until she passed away in 2017. They have two sons,
Sandy Insalaco Jr. and Michael Insalaco; and five grandchildren, Rachael, Dominica, Julia, Sandy III and Stephen.
Insalaco currently helps nonprofit organizations in fundraising.
