James J. Shugrue

James J. Shugrue, 78, of Wethersfield died at home on February 9, 2025 surrounded by his family. He was born in Norwich Connecticut, son of the late James F. and Geraldine O'Neil Shugrue. We lost Jim 11:53 a.m. on Sunday. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Joanne Fasolo Shugrue. His first love was the Wethersfield Volunteer Fire Department. He joined in February of his senior year in college. He was a member of the WFD for 51 years until his health prevented him from continuing. He started as a private then progressed to engineer, lieutenant, captain twice and acting deputy chief. He made lifelong friends in the fire department travelling several times to Bermuda with some of them as well as trips to New York City and Boston. Jim enjoyed getting together every Friday night to socialize and Sunday morning for clean up of the fire house. He also taught fire safety classes at the fire academy at Bradley Field as well as classes at Company 3 in the WFD. In 1968 after graduating Central Connecticut State University with a major in math and minor in physics, Father John Shugrue hired him as a 2 week substitute teacher at South Catholic High School. Jim had worked his way through college working 30 hours per week at Wolcott Hill Market in Wethersfield. After 2 weeks at South Catholic, Jim asked if his assignment was complete. Jim was invited to stay on as a math teacher. During his approximately 23 years at South, he was Dean of Boys, Math Department Chairman and teacher of the year. While at South, he completed his graduate courses in Math at Central Connecticut State University. After South Catholic closed, he obtained his teaching certification at Central Connecticut State University and was invited to teach Statistics at Central after the professor for the certification program was our for the semester due to illness. He was an Adjunct Professor at Central Connecticut State University and Al Prince Technical School the year after South Catholic closed. Sister Maureen Reardon was instrumental in recommending that Jim be hired as a math teacher at Northwest Catholic High School two years after South Catholic closed. He started out as a teacher for all levels of math courses then taught Trigonometry and Pre-calculus. He started out as a Dean of Boys and Math Department Chairman at Northwest. He was teacher of the year at Northwest Catholic. In 1988 Jim was nominated for consideration in the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science and Mathematics. In 2005/2006 Jim was nominated for National Honor Roll NHR Outstanding American Teachers award. Students have contacted Jim by letter, email and phone calls with the impact he has made on their lives and careers. Jim and his lifelong friend, Moe Cattanio painted houses every summer since he started at South Catholic until Moe retired as summer painter. We recently lost Moe and his wife Rose and they were a great loss to Jim. Jim was the union pension negotiator at Northwest Catholic and also the pension negotiator for the Wethersfield Fire Department. We adopted one puppy, Timber, 5 adult and 2 senior dogs April, Winnie, Bambi, Roxy, Cindy, Maggy and Abby during his 51-year marriage to Joanne. Abby, our current senior dog, will miss Jim. In addition to his wife, Jim is survived by his sister Noreen Shugrue (Kevin Kenzenkovic) of Manchester, his brother Thomas Shugrue (Linda Healy) of Wethersfield, his nephews Patrick Shugrue (Eliza) of Simsbury, Matthew Shugrue of Newington, Christopher (Krista) Shugrue of Midlothian, VA, and grandnephew and nieces Zachary, Abigail, and Madeline Shugrue. Jim also leaves a sister-in-law, Susan Tye, her husband John and their daughter Sara and a brother-in-law Ricky Fasolo, his wife Lorie and their daughters Samantha and Elizabeth. He was predeceased by his parents and sister Mary Ellen Shugrue. His family will receive friends from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the Farley-Sullivan Home at 34 Beaver Road in Wethersfield on Friday, February 14, 2025, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. in Corpus Christi Church of Christ the King Parish, 601 Silas Deane Highway, Wethersfield. Burial will follow in Rose Hill Memorial Park in Rocky Hill. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Reverend John Shugrue and Mary Shugrue Scholarship at Northwest Catholic High School, 28 Wampanoag Drive, West Hartford, CT 06117. For more information or to leave a condolence, please visit FarleySullivan.com. To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of James, please visit our Tree Store.