Christopher Michael DeRigo

Christopher Michael DeRigo was born June 18, 1968, in Binghamton, New York. The youngest of 3 children, and moved with his family to Sarasota in 1978. He lost his battle with metastatic neck cancer and passed away at the age of 54 on March 11, 2023.

He is preceded in death by his father Donald DeRigo and survived by his mother Barbara DeRigo, sister Michele, brother-in-law Mitchell, sister Lynette, his children, Kris, Stephany and Logan, 3 nephews, Joshua, Shawn, and Parker, 1 niece, Nadia and 2 grandchildren, Braxton and Beau, several cousins and his soulmate Diana Comer.

Chris will be remembered for many of his passions, fishing - which he called "catching", his love of music including his favorite band Rush and playing his guitars and harmonicas. Chris also became excellent at boat restoration and brought many of those back to life. He was an excellent cook and had a real green thumb for gardening. Chris loved using his smoker and putting his own touch on creating wonderful food for his family and friends.

Chris attended Riverview High School and in his younger years he enjoyed speed boat racing with the big boys taking part in the Sarasota Offshore boat races. He worked at El Adobe and the Oasis Restaurants. He also worked for his father at Sarasota Pressure Cleaning. Finding a passion for boat restoration he started his own business, Lineside Marine Specialties.

After fighting the cancer with all he had and believing he had won, Chris decided to move to Pavo, Ga with the love of his life, Diana. He absolutely loved the peacefulness of Pavo and never wanted to leave. Chris would spend all the time he could outside and called it his nature church and a place to cleanse the soul. Unfortunately the cancer returned very aggressively and took his life.

Chris will be missed for many things, especially his sense of humor, kindness towards others and the love he had for his family and friends. He used to say "Even though every day got harder for him since the cancer came, what helped him the most was to force the self pity into a positive motion of helping others in distress".

Donations may be made to Salvation Army, PO Box 2792, Life Recovery Program, Sarasota, FL 34230

Or

Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, PO Box 21688, Charleston, SC 29413 http://headandneckcanceralliance.salsalabs.org/donationform2023/index.html

Our family wishes to thank you for all your love and support.

There will be a Celebration of Life for Chris at Stottlemyer's Smokehouse, Sarasota, FL Sunday April 2, 2023 at from 12-3:30pm