Joseph Ruggerone was born on February 24th, 1927 in Manhattan. He was the son of Germano Ruggerone and Estelle (Karpinski) Ruggerone. He is survived by his loving wife of 66 years, Angelin (Messina) Ruggerone. He is also survived by his son Mark, and his wife Margaret, and grandchildren, Frank, Christine, Mary, and Rita. He is also survived by his daughter Donna Kelly and her husband James Kelly, and grandchildren, Dawn, Ryan, and Shannon. His great grandchildren through Dawn and Mike Colorio are Jace, Savannah, and Brynn.
Joseph grew up in New York City up to the age of four. From ages four to ten, he grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. He was raised with his Polish grandmother and became fluent in Polish. From ages ten to eighteen, he attended Salesian boarding schools in Goshen, NY from grades five to eight and in New Rochelle, NY for high school. He was valedictorian in his high school. Some of his boyhood summers he spent on the family farm on the Maryland eastern shore. Upon graduation from high school, he was drafted into the US Army and served from June 1945 and was honourably discharged in 1947 after WWII.
He attended Champlain College in Plattsburgh, NY for three years, from 1947 to 1950. He studied engineering. He was employed with Ford Instrument as a draftsman from 1951 to 1968. When Ford Instrument went out of business in 1968, he job shopped for two years, including working for IBM in East Fishkill, NY. He was then employed by New York Telephone in a management position from 1970 until he retired in 1992. Upon his retirement he had more time to pursue his hobbies including stamps and coins and historical paper collecting including magazines, newspapers, books, and postcards.
He was married on June 19th, 1954 at Holy Name Catholic Church in Brooklyn, NY, He lived with his wife Angelin in Sunnyside, NY from 1954 to 1956 and in Baldwin, NY from 1956 to 1958. They bought their home in Rego Park, Queens in 1958 and lived there until 2019.
During his final year, he was a resident of Lutheran Care Center in Poughkeepsie, NY and was regularly visited by his family. He passed away at the age of 93 at Vassar Brothers Medical Center on January 4th, 2021.