Retired general foreman John Confalone, 58
John Confalone, a retired foreman for the NYC carpenters union local 45 and a lifelong Levittown resident, died March 8, 2012. Credit: Handout
John Confalone, a retired general foreman in the carpenters union who spent most of his life in the Levittown house he grew up in, died in his sleep on Thursday. He was 58.
The cause of death has not been determined. A family member said he had numerous health problems, including a back injury and an autoimmune disorder.
Born in Glen Cove to the children of Norwegian and Italian immigrants, he initially wanted to follow his father's footsteps and become an engineer.
After graduating from Levittown Memorial High School in 1971, he studied engineering at Arizona State University but returned to Long Island a year later and started his career as a carpenter.
Most of his work was on large construction projects in New York City, including the 54-story Citi Group building in Long Island City. When he retired in 2005, he was a foreman in New York City's carpenters union Local 45.
In retirement, he continued a lifelong pursuit of tinkering that included fixing everything from cars and boats to computers, said his daughter, Corrine Tortorici, of Barnegat, N.J.
"He was always in the garage," she said. "He always had something he was working on."
"He could fix anything," said another daughter, Nicole Confalone, of Queens.
Tortorici said her father was an animal lover who doted on his black Labrador, Cody. She recalled that as a child he took her out in the rain to collect frogs in buckets.
On his Facebook page, he posted sayings, jokes and observations -- both religious and irreverent. Last month, he posted an image with the words, "Click 'share' if your kids mean the world to you."
Besides his daughters, he is survived by his wife, Kathleen; a son, Jack of Brooklyn; a sister, Marianne Rogers of Charleston, S.C.; half-brothers, Michael Confalone of New Hampshire and Philip Confalone of Smithtown; and two grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the North Shore Animal League.
Wakes will be held Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. at Dalton's Funeral Home in Levittown. The funeral will be held Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Levittown.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
