CHARLES MOROSINI

MOROSINI--Dr. Charles J.

Dr. Charles J. "Chuck" Morosini, M.D., a renowned cardiologist and beloved husband, father and grandfather, died after a short illness early Tuesday, April 24, on Cape Cod. He was 84. Dr. Morosini was born May 11, 1933, in Scranton, PA, to Dr. Charles and Pearl Morosini. After a stint at Penn State University was cut short by a "panty raid" related expulsion, Dr. Morosini graduated with a degree in Philosophy from Fordham University. He met Helen Simpson, his Boston Irish match, in Spring Lake, NJ. Their first date, at a Dartmouth-Princeton football game, was a failure, but the rest of their time together was a triumph. Chuck and Helen eloped in 1957 in New York City while Dr. Morosini was a medical student at Jefferson in Philadelphia. Following his residency in cardiology and internal medicine at Roosevelt Hospital in NYC, Dr. Morosini served two years as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Sanford, FL, and on an icebreaker in the North Pole. The Morosini family settled in Scarsdale, NY, in the early 1960s, where Dr. Morosini quickly became part of the fabric of the Edgemont community as everyone's favorite doctor and cocktail party companion. Chuck and Helen were avid skiers, tennis players, readers, fun seekers, New York Rangers fans, and weekly visitors to Salerno's in Tuckahoe. Their travels were worldly and imaginative and rife with limericks. Brooke and Eric Swenson rounded out their foursome that rode the Orient Express and strolled Piazza San Marco with curiosity and good humor. Chuck, who, in his own words, was "often wrong but never in doubt," was an autodidact, notably teaching himself to sail and woodwork. He had an authoritarian relationship with wood; when he wasn't bending, sawing and sanding it to his will as he crafted useful gifts for family and friends, he was chopping it to be thrown into his nightly fire, typically accompanied by classical music or Sinatra, a good book, and a gin on the rocks with two olives. Chuck's greatest glory was his family. In addition to his adored Helen, his three daughters-- whom he stubbornly referred to as his "boys"--Deborah, Dana and Adrienne, were the lights of his life. The light grew brighter with the additions of his grandchildren. Dr. Morosini is survived by his sister, Joan Macdonald, his daughters, Deborah Morosini and Adrienne Morosini- Heilman, his revered son-in-law and verbal sparring partner, Dana Heilman, and his grandchildren, James Morosini, Peter Lichtenthal, Matthew and Will Reeve, Alexandra Reeve Givens, and Erik and Logan Heilman, as well as his adopted and treasured Pucci family. The family will hold a celebration of life in NYC in the fall and asks that donations in Chuck's memory be made to Planned Parenthood or to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.