Obituary of Charles DiCalogero

Charles DiCalogero, age 93, died at the Bridgeway Care Center in Bridgewater, NJ on the morning of March 3, 2011. Charles was born in New York City in 1917, the first son of Carmela and Calogero DiCalogero, immigrants from the town of Naro, Sicily. He lived most of his life as a proud New Yorker, growing up in a tenement in midtown Manhattan where the United Nations now stands, and was a resident of Flatbush Brooklyn after World War II. He married the late Beatrice Grodman in 1946; they were married for 37 years. In the '50s they moved to Woodside, Queens, where they raised two children. He was a long-time resident of the Big Six Towers, where many people knew him as a friendly and energetic neighbor well into his senior years. Charles served as a soldier in Europe during World War II. As a reporter for the US Army newspaper Stars and Stripes, he interviewed Princess Juliana (later Queen) of The Netherlands near the end of the war. After the war, he earned his BBA from Baruch College, City University of New York, and his MBA from New York University's Business School as a night student on the GI Bill, and then worked as an accountant. He retired from his position as Assistant Treasurer at the C.J. Lawrence brokerage in 1984. He loved spending time with his family, attending the opera and the movies, and taking photographs of family, friends and New York City scenes. In his retirement he fulfilled his dream of traveling to Europe and the Caribbean to sight-see and reconnect with family overseas, including a visit to his parents' birthplace. Charles is predeceased by his sister Rose (DiCalogero) Young, and brother James DiCalogero. He is survived by his beloved partner Bernice (Bunny Weinstock) Raphael of Douglaston NY; son Lido, daughter-in-law Sophia, and grandchildren Michal and Jeremy DiCalogero, all of Warren NJ; and daughter Charlene DiCalogero of Berlin, MA, as well as nieces, nephews, their families, and cousins. The family requests donations in his memory to any of the following nonprofit organizations in lieu of flowers: CityHarvest (food assistance) www.cityharvest.org/ Suffolk County United Veterans (assists homeless vets in Suffolk) www.scuv.org/ Care for the Homeless (shelter and support services for men, women and children forced to live on the streets) www.careforthehomeless.org/