Lawrence R. Pasciutti, LI electrician who worked on Statue of Liberty, dies at 82

Electrician Lawrence R. Pasciutti worked on such iconic New York City landmarks as the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center. And, during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he kept the lights on and the vents running so first responders could make it through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, his family said.

When he wasn't working his day job, however, Pasciutti was "the soul" of his Center Moriches neighborhood, said his son, Lawrence L. Pasciutti.

"We would always have a neighborhood Halloween party the weekend before Halloween, and my father, being a very artistic person, used to create a mini spooky walk in his backyard with the vast majority of the decorations and attractions homemade from yard sale materials," his son said. He recalled skeleton pirate ships, zip lines and a fog machine his father, known as Larry, would set up for the occasion.

Lawrence R. Pasciutti died April 12 of cancer at his home in Center Moriches. He was 82.

Heritage and harbors

The youngest of three boys, Pasciutti was born in Manhattan on April 17, 1943. He was raised in Astoria, Queens, with his "big Italian family" summering in Mastic Beach, according to his daughter.

"It truly was a respite and an adventure for them," his daughter Patricia Kaloski said. "They grew up on the marshlands of Mastic Beach and boating was a big deal for them. They loved to sail."

Larry, along with his brothers and father, found a washed-up and wrecked wooden 1928 Cape Cod knockabout they restored and named The Spray. The boat stayed in the family for many years, and he used it to teach his son how to sail.

Lawrence recounted a time out on the boat with his father when they were sailing in foggy weather from Center Moriches to Fire Island's Great Gun Beach.

"The fog would move in and you’d hear the motorboats stop, and the fog would come out and they all try to rush across the bay," he said. "Whereas my father and I, with the compass, a chart, parallel rulers and a stopwatch, sailed across the whole bay and hit the channel dead-on."

Larry was proud of his northern Italian heritage and his family had a tradition of a 2 p.m. Sunday dinner "when the family would sit around, and him and my grandfather would just tell the stories [of] them growing up and whatever else they may choose to talk about," Kaloski said.

Father and husband

Larry met his wife, Dreama, in the early 1960s through mutual friends. Originally from West Virginia, she moved to Long Island to help her sister, who had moved to the Island to take care of their grandparents in East Moriches.

"The story we always heard was [Dreama] was actually engaged to be married to somebody else, but she met my dad and sent a Dear John letter," Kaloski said.

According to the story, Dreama originally said no, "and my dad slept in his Volkswagen Bug in front of my aunt’s house until she acquiesced to go on a date with him," his daughter said.

The two married in 1963, first living in Queens, where their son was born, before moving to Larry’s family bungalow in Mastic Beach and then settling in Center Moriches, where Kaloski and her older sister, Alicia D'Agostino, were born and raised.

Despite working as a high-voltage splicer as part of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in New York City, he chose to commute so his children could have a backyard to play in.

He remained devoted to Dreama and was a good caregiver when she got sick after Larry retired in June 2004. His wife died in 2024, Kaloski said.

"He would give and give and give, and never ask anything in return," she said.

"His family and his children [were] his life, and if my mom was the heart of the family, he was the hero of the family," Kaloski said.

Along with his three children, Pasciutti is survived by his grandchildren. A Mass was celebrated on April 17, his birthday, at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Center Moriches. Interment was at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Center Moriches.