Raffaele Guglielmo Ruberto

Raffaele Guglielmo Ruberto, 87, passed away peacefully in his home in Benicia, California, on February 13, 2025, while listening to one of his favorite operas, Puccini's Turandot. He was born on April 21,1937, in Cairano, Italy. He had lived in Benicia since 1985 and had previously lived in Western Pennsylvania.
He is survived by his wife, Anna (De Pedis), of over 65 years; son Fabio (Karen LaMark) of Evans City, PA; daughters Beatrice (Steve Devine) of Albany, CA, and Laura (Matthew Goldstein) of Piedmont, CA; grandchildren Antonio (Rachel Burress), Alyssa, Milo, Enzo, Dante, and Alma; brother Joseph Ruberto; and sisters Beatrice Ruberto and Ernestine Franco.
He left Cairano first as a young boy to attend school in Rome, and later to immigrate to the United States. He arrived in New York City in January 1958 and joined his parents and siblings in Pittsburgh, PA; he studied English and worked as a carpenter, a skill he would use throughout his life, especially in his and his children's homes. In December 1959 he returned to Italy and married Anna in Rome. Immediately after, he was drafted into the United States Army and served two years in West Germany, where Anna was able to join him while she waited for her visa to immigrate to the United States. Once discharged, he returned to Pittsburgh, and Anna joined him shortly after. Upon his return to the U.S., he landed a staff job in a chemistry lab at Carnegie Institute of Technology, where he enrolled in free night classes. He graduated in 1968 from what by then was Carnegie Mellon University, with a bachelor's degree in Chemistry, and he went on to a career of more than 30 years as a research chemist for Gulf Oil, and later Chevron.
He and Anna traveled widely, taking their children on weeks-long camping trips across much of the United States, as well as regular return visits to Italy to see family; in retirement, the couple expanded their travels to many parts of the world. He was always an adventurer with big ideas-once trying to organize a family road trip, at the height of the Cold War, from Pittsburgh to Italy via the Bering Strait (the Soviets denied permission for the trip; the family went camping in Wyoming instead). His native Cairano always remained close to his heart, and in retirement he and Anna returned annually and immersed themselves in the life of the town. In his later years, if he wasn't spending time with family, he could be found in his home office, teaching himself to code, working on various Italian-English translations, writing the family story, reading The Guardian and La Repubblica, watching Italian soccer, and keeping in touch with friends and family across the globe.
He was physically strong but unfailingly gentle and gracious, politically aware, infinitely generous, and always modest. He could fix broken pipes in the morning and spend the evening at the symphony. He had a knack for tinkering and could repair just about anything. He never lost his connection to the country of his birth, from his active involvement in the Dante Alighieri Society in Pittsburgh in the 1970s, to more recently helping neighbors and friends untangle their ancestral ties to Italy. Up until his last days he was always eager to connect with his grandchildren's lives and interests. He never ate a meal without a piece of bread and a glass of wine. His presence in our lives will be deeply missed and we are grateful for his love.
A funeral mass will be held at St. Dominic's Catholic Church in Benicia, California, on February 28 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial gifts in Raffaele's name may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or Habitat for Humanity, two of his favorite organizations.