Roseanne E. Monaco
“Aside from her family,” Roseanne E. Monaco’s “true passion in life was being a special educator,” her family wrote. Mrs. Monaco served as a unit coordinator for special education with the New York City Board of Education in Brooklyn for 25 years.
Mrs. Monaco, a resident of East Hampton for 25 years and a part-time resident of Montauk for 20 years before that, died at home in Morristown, N.J., on Jan. 25 after a long illness. She was 86.
She loved to read on the beach here, and even as her health began to fail, an ice cream at the Main Beach pavilion remained a fun treat. She and her husband, Dr. Michael Monaco, had been members of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton for many years. They left the South Fork for New Jersey to be closer to family.
Mrs. Monaco was born in Brooklyn on May 2, 1931, to Salvatore Piccoli and the former Rose Matera. She grew up in Brooklyn and earned a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University in 1954, a master’s degree in education from Richmond College on Staten Island in 1970, and a master’s in special education from Wagner College in 1979.
She was married on Sept. 5, 1955, and settled on Staten Island, where she and her husband brought up their six children. Mrs. Monaco had been a president of the Auxiliary to the Richmond County Medical Society and was a charter member of the Staten Island Mental Health Society.
Along with reading, she enjoyed playing bridge, traveling, and the theater.
Her husband survives, as do five of their children, Dr. Paul Monaco, Christine Monaco, Regina Zambon, Maryann Reilly, and Jennifer Michener, and 12 grandchildren. Her son Michael Monaco Jr. died before her.
Visiting hours were held on Jan. 30 at the Doyle Funeral Home in Morristown, with a service following the next day at Assumption Church, also in Morristown. Mrs. Monaco was buried at Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island.
Her family has suggested donations to the Parkinson’s Foundation, 200 S.E. First Street, Suite 800, Miami 33131, or online at parkinson.org.