Leonard Curraro: Father of 3 was 'the perfect dad'
Leonard Curraro at the church in Rome where his son, Anthony, was married. Credit: Curraro family
When she was 15, Nicole Curraro stuck a hand into the salad her mother was making to pick out a cherry tomato. Her father, Leonard, raised his voice and told her not to do that. Years later, in February, Nicole’s 3-year-old son stuck his hand in the salad his mother was making to pick out a cherry tomato.
This time, Leonard Curraro just laughed.
“Here, I’m yelling at him and my father’s telling me to leave him alone, and how cute it is," Nicole Curraro said. “I know I was 15, and he’s 3, but I thought, ‘Isn’t that interesting?’ When he became a grandfather, he became a little bit different."
Curraro, 68, died May 19 at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola of complications from COVID-19, said his son, Anthony.
Leonard Curraro was born Jan. 26, 1952, in Brooklyn, the son of Anthony and Rose Curraro. The family, including Curraro's sister, Augustina, who now lives in Texas, eventually moved to Queens. After graduating from Springfield Gardens High School in 1971, Curraro got a job with New York Telephone, which would later become Verizon.
Curraro worked in a number of management positions until he retired in 1997. Later that year, he began a second career, working for Cablevision as a fiber optic engineer. He retired from that job in 2016.
Curraro married his high school sweetheart, Cathy, on Sept. 24, 1978, and the couple moved to Long Island in 1982. Besides Nicole and Anthony, the couple had another child, Stephanie.
“He was a fun-loving guy who lived every moment," Anthony Curraro, said. “He enjoyed life, especially with the grandchildren."
Anthony Curraro said his father was a warm person who left an impression on everyone he met.
“If you were having a party," Nicole Curraro said, “people would ask, ‘Is your father going to be there?’ ”
Anthony Curraro said his father was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1986. At the time, he weighed about 270 pounds. After his diagnosis he changed his diet, stopped drinking alcohol and got down to 180 pounds. He rode his bike everywhere, played tennis and coached his son in baseball. He also played softball from the mid-1970s to about 2014, his son said.
He loved the Yankees and was a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys. Beginning in 1997, he and his wife would go to Texas every year to see a Cowboys game.
“People talk about what it is to be a good dad — who do you want to pattern yourself after," Anthony Curraro said. “My dad was the perfect dad. … He was definitely a disciplinarian when he was younger, but he became my best friend."
In addition to his three children and sister, Leonard Curraro is survived by his wife.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
