Biography

Frank N. Nicastro, Sr. was born and raised in Bristol, Connecticut. He attended local schools and graduated from Bristol High School. He served 6 years in the United States Navy with three of those years aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer. He then served 24 years in the Connecticut Army National Guard, where he played lead trumpet with the 102nd Army Band and conducted the Connecticut Yankee Jazz Ensemble.

He served four years on Bristol’s Inland Wetlands Agency and many years on the state’s Juvenile Justice Commission. Prior to being elected mayor, he was the city’s truant officer for seventeen years. He served three consecutive terms as a city councilman from 1987 to 1993.

Beginning in November 1993, he served 5 consecutive terms as mayor of the city of Bristol, chairing the Bristol Police, Fire, Park and Public Works Boards and the Joint Board of Finance and City Council. He retired from that position in November 2003. During his tenure as mayor, he served as treasurer, secretary, vice chairman and chairman of the Bristol Resource Recovery Authority, which is comprised of 14 cities and towns. From 1998 to 2003, Frank was chairman of the chief elected officials of the Workforce Development Board which developed and administered job training programs for 22 cities and towns reaching from Bristol to Old Saybrook and encompassing a population of over 440,000 citizens.

In 2004, Frank was appointed a police commissioner for the city. In 2005, he returned to elected office as a city councilman and was re-elected to another term from 2007 to 2009. In that capacity, he chaired the Bristol Real Estate and Salary Committees and was a member of several others in addition to serving on the Bristol Police Board.  In 2009, having completed a total of 20 years in local government, he chose not to seek re-election to the city council.

In 2006, he was elected to his first term in the Connecticut House of Representatives where he served on the Transportation Committee, General Law Committee and the Select Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. He is currently in his third term, has been appointed Assistant Majority Leader and remains a member of these same committees. He now serves as vice chairman of the Select Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Frank is a member of the Bristol Lodge of Elks and the American Legion. He is the father of three children and grandfather of six. He plays trumpet with several jazz bands and leads his own jazz orchestra. In 2004, he was placed on orders by the state of Connecticut military department to serve as a member of the honor guard to play taps at military funerals throughout the region.