Deer Park man who died in blizzard a 'proud veteran,' sister says

In recent weeks, Deer Park resident Mark Curtis' visits to his sister's house in Amityville became more frequent as the "proud veteran" worked through some personal problems.

The last time she saw her brother, Paula Cella said, was the morning before a blizzard hit Long Island on Feb. 22. Cella told Newsday on Monday she wished Curtis would have spent the night and helped her shovel out of her home. Instead, Curtis, 64, headed back to his Deer Park residence.

"My last words to him were, 'If you go home, you can't come back' because I knew they were going to be closing the roads," said Cella, 69. "The next day I texted him and asked, 'How many inches did you get?' "

She never received a reply. Soon, Cella saw reports of a man found buried Feb. 23 in snow outside Curtis' Deer Park apartment complex and pronounced dead at the scene.

"I immediately knew it was my brother," Cella said.

On Monday, the Suffolk County Police Department confirmed it.

The police said the cause of Curtis' death would be determined through an autopsy at the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner in Hauppauge. Homicide Squad detectives do not believe the cause to have been criminal. The police have not said how Curtis had become buried beneath the snow or whether his death was related to the blizzard.

Regardless of how her younger brother died, Cella said: “He shouldn't be dead.”

"It wasn’t his time," she added.

Curtis, a Howard Beach native, joined the Army soon after attending John Adams High School in Ozone Park, Queens, according to his sister. He moved to Long Island after his service as "a proud veteran" from 1979 through 1984, which included time spent in Germany and other countries overseas, she said. After he returned home he worked for many years at various Home Depot locations, including as a manager who helped open new stores.

Cella said she will always be grateful for his generosity.

"If I ever asked him to do anything," Cella added Monday, "he would have done it in a minute."

An online fundraiser started to help Curtis' family cover his funeral expenses described him as a "loving" brother and uncle who "was always willing to lend a hand to anyone who needed it."

Funeral arrangements had not been completed for Curtis as of Monday evening, his sister said. Cella was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

Three Nassau County residents and another two in Suffolk died during the blizzard while shoveling snow, Newsday previously reported.