Carmen Paniagua, former Daily News’ Viva financial manager, dies at 92

Carmen Paniagua, former financial manager of Viva, the Daily News’ Latino lifestyle magazine and the mother of Viva founder Ralph Paniagua, died on Wednesday. She was 92.

Paniagua handled the business end of her son’s sprawling content creation enterprise, including Viva, a News insert targeting the city’s Latino community.

“She handled all the finances,” said Ralph Paniagua. “She was a bright entrepreneurial type of person.”

But don’t be fooled by her business persona, he said.

“She was the life of the party,” Paniagua said. “Come Christmas time, she would cook for everybody, roast pig, turkey, rice and beans. She loved to dance and she loved to be with her family.”

There was no shortage of relatives. Carmen Paniagua was the youngest of 14 children born to Julia and Santiago Crespo in tiny Manatí, Puerto Rico, where beautiful beaches stretched beyond rich pineapple fields.

She migrated in 1949 to New York City, where she met and married Ralph Paniagua, Sr., with whom she raised a son and two daughters in Spanish Harlem.

But her family extended way beyond her household, and her interests extended way beyond the business.

Paniagua said his mother was a world traveler, booking passage on cruises and trips to Europe.

But her passion was music, and her favorite artist was Tito Puente, the songwriter and bandleader who was a son of Spanish Harlem.

Puente was a regular at Manhattan’s Palladium Ballroom, and so was Carmen Paniagua. Years later, when she and her husband celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, Puente provided the entertainment.

He was told to keep it simple and just bring his jazz band, but he showed up with his full 18-piece orchestra, Paniagua said.

A funeral service for Carmen Paniagua will be held Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at Schuyler Hill Funeral on East Tremont Ave. in the Bronx. She will be interred a day later at the Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island.