Sandy Giampapa and partner Al Longo, in the Boston firm, Publicity Inc, of 58 years handled clients such as former governor John Volpe, promotions for Wentworth Institute of Technology, Sportsmen's Show and the New England Flower Show, among others.

Santo, was born in East Boston, the son of Italian immigrants, Charles and Concetta (Cerasuolo) Giampapa, and didn't learn English until he started school, and yet he graduated from Boston University with a journalism degree!

During a heat wave in Boston in the late 1940s, when his publicity firm was promoting a restaurant, Sandy Giampapa had an idea: Get a well-known chef to show how hot it was by frying an egg in olive oil on the sidewalk. The stunt worked, drawing a lot of media and public attention.

When Mr. Giampapa and Al Longo, his business partner of 58 years, were publicizing the annual Sportsmen's Show at the old Mechanics Building in Boston, they got Ted Williams to fly-cast and Joe Namath to throw footballs to the children.

Mr. Giampapa, who remained active in his Boston firm, Publicity Inc., until eight weeks ago, died Friday in Newton Health Center of respiratory failure. He was 86 and lived in Newton for 52 years.

''We were a team," Longo said. ''We started this business in 1946. Sandy was the inside guy, putting the releases together, and I was the outside guy, taking them around to the media. We were always equal partners. We never had a written contract between us."

Mr. Giampapa and Longo shared a big partners' desk. ''Sandy was the idea man," Longo said. ''He could come up with a million, and we ran with them."

Associates said there was a natural synergy between the two men that gave their firm an edge in a fiercely competitive field.

''One without the other wouldn't have been as good," said Sandra Reed of West Bridgewater, who worked for them. ''Al would say, 'This is what I want to do. What do you think?' Then, he would get on the phone, setting things up, and Sandy would sit down and start typing news releases that were ready to go while Al was still on the phone. They trusted each other to the fullest."

Mr. Giampapa, whose formal first name was Santo, was born in East Boston, the son of Italian immigrants, Charles and Concetta (Cerasuolo) Giampapa. His son, Greg of Natick, said that Mr. Giampapa didn't learn English until he started school.

For some reason, Mr. Giampapa did not want to go to high school in East Boston and surreptitiously took the bus to Chelsea High, said his nephew, Nicholas J. Ingala 2d of Mansfield.

He graduated from Boston University with a journalism degree.

During World War II, Mr. Giampapa enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served stateside in the Paymaster's Department, which required him to deliver payrolls to different posts. But because he so feared flying, this was difficult. Instead, Mr. Giampapa drove to his assignments.

Mr. Giampapa flew only once in his life, as a civilian, to a family emergency. He drove back.

While in the Air Corps, Mr. Giampapa married Mary Ingala. She predeceased him.

After four years, Mr. Giampapa was discharged at the captain's rank. An artist and photographer, he was once offered a job as cartoonist with Walt Disney in Hollywood, but, his son said, he turned it down.

Mr. Giampapa and Longo met when both had jobs as ushers at a Boston movie theater. They founded Publicity Inc. in 1946 ''in a little hole-in-the wall office" in the old Somerset Hotel, Longo recalled. ''We stayed there about 40 years," he said.

Publicity Inc. handled a variety of clients, from sports and movie stars to corporate figures. They worked on the campaign of former governor John Volpe and promotions for Wentworth Institute of Technology and the New England Flower Show, among many others.

Reed, who started working for the firm in 1964, said Mr. Giampapa and Longo were great bosses. ''They were like fathers to me," she said.

Working in the hole-in-the wall office was a challenge, Reed said, especially with Mr. Giampapa's propensity to save everything. ''Piles of papers were everywhere," she said. That, Ingala said, was something about his uncle ''that could drive you crazy."

''Sandy was the salt of the earth who read voraciously -- newspapers, magazines, and books, but never threw anything away," Ingala said.

Mr. Giampapa's son said the scene at home was much the same, in part because his father received more than a foot of mail a day. The volume was so great, the mailbox was too small. He put a big chest at his doorstep instead.

Mr. Giampapa and Longo also owned Pleasure Island, an amusement park in Wakefield, for about four years in the 1960s. To draw crowds, they brought celebrities there such as Clayton Moore, who played the Lone Ranger, Rex Trailer of ''Boomtown," and hockey star Bobby Orr.

''He never took a vacation," said Dorothea Snyder of Providence, who worked for Publicity Inc. ''Working was Sandy's vacation, vocation, and avocation.

"In spite of his high-profile profession, Mr. Giampapa was a quiet man who contributed unobtrusively to many charitable causes, said his daughter, Gail Weiner, of Sharon.

Besides his son, daughter, and nephew, Mr. Giampapa leaves another son, Gary of Costa Rica; and three grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. today at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Newton. Burial will be in Newton Cemetery.

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