Michael DuBritz, longtime engineer at AIL-Eaton Corp., dies at 83

Michael A. DuBritz, a longtime engineer at AIL-Eaton Corp. in Deer Park, who resided in Plainview since 1963 with his family and enjoyed doing handiwork, died following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 83.

Though DuBritz died on Jan. 2, his family will have a memorial service for him Sunday.

Born on May 21, 1937, in Brooklyn, DuBritz was one of three siblings. Both of his sisters predeceased him. DuBritz graduated from Manhattan College in 1959 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

Months after graduation, DuBritz started working at AIL-Eaton Corp. in the hamlet. In 1963, he married his wife, Joan, and moved out to Plainview, where he raised his three children.

"His two sisters and his parents also moved from Brooklyn to a one-mile radius from where my parents lived," Lisa Sciarrino of Manhasset, DuBritz’s daughter, said. "He thought living on Long Island was a good idea and the rest of his family followed."

DuBritz took his family on trips, including a 1978 trip across the country in a camper, Sciarrino said.

While Debra O’Gorman of Syosset, DuBritz’s daughter, didn’t follow in her dad’s footsteps, other family members did.

"There’s two grandsons [of his] that are now mechanical engineers," O’Gorman said. "So it definitely rubbed off on the next generation. He was very, very pleased."

In 1999, DuBritz retired from his job in Deer Park, but he didn’t stop working.

"He did a tremendous amount of work on their home in Plainview by hand, not call the contractor and do the work, but did the work himself," Sciarrino said. "He didn’t just buy the cabinets and install them, he actually made the cabinets themselves."

O’Gorman remembers her father preparing a white bucket after he received calls from family and friends to fix something.

"He filled it up with whatever tools he thought he would need for the job and then he would head off," O’Gorman said, "to … whoever had a leak, a pipe burst."

DuBritz enjoyed family traditions of making pies at Easter, cookies at Christmas and traveling on cruises, Sciarrino said.

"He took a tremendous amount of pride in his family, his children, his grandchildren," she said. "He was a very dedicated person, dedicated to anything he ever did, whether that was his job or things around the house."

DuBritz was survived by his wife; his two daughters; his son, Michael J. DuBritz of Dix Hills; and eight grandchildren.

DuBritz was buried in Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury.