Obituaries

Edmond Harvey Curcuru

Edmond Harvey Curcuru, CPT, U.S. Army (retired), passed away peacefully in his sleep on March 20, 2011, at his winter home in Longboat Key, Fla. He was 89 years old. His death came as a result of long-term heart disease.

Born on April 13, 1921, the son of Italian and Welsh immigrants, Edmond grew up in Ferndale, Mich., with his parents, Louis and Florence, two older brothers and a sister. He and his brother Louis both received Congressional appointments to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and both enrolled in the Army Air Corps pilot training program. Louis lost his life in a training accident at Stewart Field while still a cadet at West Point.

Edmond graduated from West Point with the class of June 1943, and married his Highland Falls sweetheart, Patricia Nichols. He left to fight the war in Europe as a member of the famed “Screaming Eagles” of the 101st Airborne Division. His unit, the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, made their first combat jump off the back of their trucks into Bastogne, Belgium. During the Battle of the Bulge, the 101st was surrounded and besieged by the enemy. As the only surviving officer in his company, Edmond received a Bronze Star for his actions there. Shortly after the siege was lifted, he was wounded by a bomb, earning a Purple Heart, but losing most of the function of his left wrist.

After more than a year recovering from his wounds, Edmond received a medical discharge from the Army, and returned home to Michigan to work for the Veterans Administration. At the beginning of the Korean conflict, he was recalled to active duty as an instructor and “Tac Officer” at West Point, where he was a founding member of the department of Military Psychology and Leadership. While at the Academy, he was awarded a Bronfman Fellowship to Columbia University, and completed his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees at Columbia University simultaneously.

When the Korean conflict ended, Edmond retired from the Army with the rank of Captain, and worked as a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he taught organizational psychology. He then moved to Weston, Conn., and became National Training Director for LOMA, the Life Office Management Association. He later joined the University of Connecticut in Storrs as a Professor and became one of the founders of the Stamford branch of the University’s Graduate Business School.

After retiring from UConn, he established his own successful consulting firm, Management Services Inc., and traveled the globe conducting advanced management seminars for companies such as Prudential, Kodak, Pan Am and GE. He also served as a director for the Sentry Life Insurance Company of N.Y.

Edmond loved warm weather, and was happy to call several places his home, including Palm Springs, Calif., Longboat Key, Fla., Oranjestad, Aruba, and his favorite bayside retreat, Southold, N.Y. He enjoyed his waterfront sunsets and hosting friends and family at beachfront cookouts there.

Edmond is survived by his wife, Patricia; sons Steven, Kevin and Kim; grandchildren Shane, Julie, Emily and Todd; and great-grandchildren, Roxanne and Arin McGilvray.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, August 27, at 1 p.m. at Southold United Methodist Church. Interment, with military honors, will follow at the Southold Presbyterian Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Homes.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to your preferred U.S. Army veterans organization or Southold United Methodist Church, in memory of E.H. Curcuru, USMA June ’43.

Condolences and memories may be added to http://bit.ly/EHCurcuru.

This is a paid notice.