Buffalo banker drowns in Florida
Business First of Buffalo - by Thomas Hartley Business First

Two Buffalo-area men - one of them a bank executive - drowned May 19 while vacationing on Florida's West Coast.

Police in Longboat Key identified them as John Larry, 48, of Grand Island and Christopher Gugliozza, 52, a businessman from Tonawanda.

Larry was a client manager for Bank of America's Global Corporation and Investment Banking Division in Buffalo. He also formerly served as a regional president of FleetBoston Financial which later was acquired by Bank of America.

Ernesto Anquilla, a Bank of America spokesman, confirmed that Larry died in a Florida accident, but did not have details.

Police and news accounts said the two men were rescued by other beach-goers while swimming in rough water on Longboat Key but died in a hospital.

There were originally three men in the water, all friends on vacation. The third man, who was not identified, got out of the water safely.

Authorities said the trio were caught in a rip current, which can cause a swimmer to be pulled far from shore.

Such currents were blamed in 2003 for 18 deaths in four months off beaches on the Florida Panhandle.