A onetime Vietnam War tank driver who became a New York Police Department detective and, later in life, a proprietor of a local wine shop, Rodney Roncaglio of East Hampton died on Aug. 24 in the care of the Kanas Hospice Center in Quiogue. He had been ill with pancreatic cancer for about three months. He was 75.
His wife of 38 years, Sheila Roncaglio, said he was a “dear, handsome, smart, kind” man who loved reading — in particular, books about life after death and near-death experiences — as well as gardening, food, nature, and animals. He once spent a summer raising monarch butterflies, she recalled, and cherished his two yellow Labs, Addi and Ellie.
Mr. Roncaglio was born on July 26, 1947, in Desborough, England, to Mario Stanley Roncaglio and the former Jean Haycock. He moved to the United States with his mother as a young child. In 1967, he served in the Army’s 11th Armored Cavalry as a tank driver. Afterward, while working for the phone company in the city, he earned a degree in psychology at Iona College.
He met Sheila Mahoney, a producer of TV commercials, at a group rental house in the Hamptons in 1983. They married in 1988.
Mr. Roncaglio joined the N.Y.P.D. in 1969, retiring 20 years later as a detective first grade with the city’s Major Case Unit. He had worked on the Son of Sam case as part of an independent inquiry team that included Karlis Osis, a paranormal researcher, and Terry Marmoreo, a psychic from Canada. The detective, who had known two of the victims, “was trying to find solutions — New York City was so tense and afraid,” said his wife.
In 1994, they bought their “forever house” in East Hampton. That same year, Mr. Roncaglio and two partners opened Wines by Morrell. He was actively involved in running the business until his health began to falter.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Roncaglio leaves a brother, Robert Roncaglio of the Bronx; a sister, Susan Brancato of Crofton, Md., and “many nieces, nephews, cousins, treasured friends, and his dedicated staff at the wine shop, Tom Desmond and Jeff Tubatan.”
Mr. Roncaglio was cremated; the family plans to spread his ashes in the ocean and on trails in Northwest Woods. Memorial donations have been suggested to East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach 11978, or Candlelighters N.Y.C., which helps pediatric cancer patients, at 345 East 73rd Street, Apt. 2L, New York 10021.
