Gaviola Is New Bank Chairman

   Joseph A. Gaviola of Montauk has been appointed the chairman of the board of directors of Suffolk Bancorp, the parent company of Suffolk County National bank, the second largest independent bank on Long Island.

    “I am very proud to be entrusted with this position,” he said on Tuesday morning on his way to catch a flight to Chicago. A member of the board since 2004, Mr. Gaviola, who owns Gaviola’s Market in the harbor area, has risen through the ranks and was previously vice president of the board.

    Before moving to Montauk full time, Mr. Gaviola was an executive in the mining business. He is now a member of the Montauk Lighthouse board of directors, and is the director of finance for the historical landmark. He was vice chairman of the East Hampton Town Budget and Finance Committee when the town found itself in financial disarray several years ago.

    Mr. Gaviola also served for five years as a member of the East Hampton Town Planning Board and was a founding member of the Montauk Harbor Association and was a director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce. In 1987, he started an annual surfcasting tournament, which, over time has raised $125,000 in scholarship money for local children.

    Mr. Gaviola joined the bank’s board in 2004, “and in the past eight years has developed a keen understanding not only of banking, but of our marketplace as well,” Edgar F. Goodale, the former chairman, said in a release. Mr. Gaviola’s experience as a small-business owner gives him insight into the bank’s customers, Mr. Goodale said.

    “I am honored about the appointment and excited about the future and challenge of this institution,” Mr. Gaviola said.