Alma Carney, 91: Businesswoman, realtor and famous for her chicken cacciatore

This story is part of an ongoing Miami Herald series chronicling the lives of South Florida COVID-19 victims.

Alma Carney will be remembered for her outgoing personality, love of food and dedication to work. She was 91 years old when she died on April 22 due to complications related to COVID-19.

Carney was born in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 7, 1928. She married James Carney in 1949, and they had three children during their 38-year marriage: Colleen, Susan (now deceased), and Michael.

“She was extremely intelligent and interested in what people had to say,” said her daughter, Colleen Carney. “She was honest and very outgoing; very detail-oriented.”

In 1955, Carney moved from Levittown, N.Y., to Melrose Park, Fla., with her husband and two daughters. Years later, the couple founded AJ’s Catering, a company that became a pioneer in the industry in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, said Colleen.

The business sold lunch and snacks to construction workers in Fort Lauderdale. Carney would prepare deli meals and keep the books while her husband loaded the trucks and worked with the drivers.

About five years later, they closed the business, and Carney started working in real estate in Fort Lauderdale. She then began work in the late ‘70s for Arvida Realty in Boca Raton, where she stayed for many years.

Carney maintained a love of food and cooking throughout her life. She was famous among family and friends for her Italian dishes, especially her chicken cacciatore and linguine with clam sauce.

She encouraged her family to enjoy meals without any rush and always served fresh food at home. Her granddaughter, Kathryn Carney, remembers a time when she noticed a can of sauce on Carney’s counter.

“I was so appalled because I thought she was making the sauce homemade,” she said. “I was like, ‘oh my goodness, Why is there a can here?’ I’ll remember that forever, realizing the moment when she stopped making things from scratch.”

Carney was affectionate and soft-spoken. She loved cuddling her family and gardening. But she would also speak her mind.

“Talking politics and having a point of view were some of her favorite things,” said Colleen. “She was very direct but diplomatic and generally got what she wanted.”

In early February, Carney was recovering from a broken pelvis in the skilled nursing area of The Court at Palm Aire, the Pompano Beach facility where she lived. She was in a lot of pain, but recovering well, according to Colleen.

She returned to her apartment at The Court in early April and showed no symptoms of COVID-19, but she was weak and lacking appetite.

The family hadn’t been allowed to see her since mid-March, and Colleen expressed her concerns daily to the nursing staff. They, in turn, contacted her doctor.

“The doctor feared that exposing her to a hospital could cause her to contract the virus,” said Colleen. “She was still asymptomatic: showing none of the typical known symptoms of the disease at the time.”

After Carney’s blood oxygen saturation level tested low, she was taken to the hospital, where she tested positive for the virus.

When hospice was brought in, she survived only a few hours. She died about nine days after being admitted to the hospital, said Colleen.

Carney will be missed by her son and daughter, granddaughters Kristen and Kathryn, nephews and nieces, and former daughter-in-law, Lynn Carney. The family plans to have a private service to celebrate Carney’s life once it is safe. The family requests memorial donations for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“[She was] extremely strong,” said Colleen. “She could be a very controlling person in the sense that she was always in charge, but she had two daughters who grew up to be pretty similar to her in that sense, so I guess she did it well.”

Alejandra Marquez Janse, a Florida International University journalism student, wrote this story for the Miami Herald.