Kevin Howell Curcuru
Kevin Howell Curcuru, 70, passed away peacefully Monday, March 21, 2022, at Apple Valley Center in Ayer, Mass.
Kevin was born on April 16, 1951, at West Point, N.Y., to parents Edmond and Patricia. His family moved several times throughout his childhood between Connecticut, Ohio, and New York, although his favorite homes were in Southold, N.Y. — the longtime family house Howell Home, and beautiful bayside property affectionately dubbed Paradise Point, both of which he would frequent throughout his life.
Kevin graduated from Staples High School in Westport, Conn., where he attended a Doors concert as school photographer. After high school he spent a memorable year with the Trailside Country School, camping and hiking with a group all around the Appalachians. Kevin then spent time working at the Lums Restaurant, Goldsmith’s Boat Shop, and his favorite, the Westport Pizzeria — while driving his red Datsun 2-liter and learning sailing. He started attending college at Ohio Wesleyan University before transferring to Western Connecticut State University.
Kevin graduated from WestConn in 1979 before beginning a graduate degree program in computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. He would often reminisce of his time teaching courses at UConn in areas such as CS, hardware design and software engineering. One semester before completing his M.S. degree, Kevin started his career in computer hardware engineering and design at Wang Labs, moving to Maynard, Mass. At Wang he was awarded 4 patents for memory controllers and system bus architecture, before he eventually moved on to work at other computer engineering companies, DEC, SMC, Cabletron, and SUN Microsystems.
After retiring from SUN due to disability in the early 2000s, Kevin then pursued his lifelong passion of photography. He took several photography courses, learned photo editing programs, experimented with different types of cameras, lenses and printing techniques and sold his photos at artist events. Kevin combined his love of photography with his fondness for driving and hiking — going on photo walks and hikes up mountains and trails all around the New England area. He often went by his internet moniker “Oldmotem” (short for Old Man of the Mountain) for his photography and online persona.
Kevin actively lived his life to the fullest during retirement, dividing his time between Pepperell, Mass, Nashua, N.H., and Howell Home and Paradise Point. A huge fan of music, he went to dozens of concerts, especially for his favorite artist, Avril Lavigne, and his close second favorite, Tegan and Sara. He frequented the cinemas and watched TCM regularly, contributing to several different movie review sites. He attended lots of local Southold events with his mother until her passing in 2018, including the yearly Cutchogue BBQ and LobsterFest. Kevin surrounded himself with his family and friends, and is remembered fondly for his kindness, giving nature and sense of humor.
Kevin is survived by his three children, Emily, Julie, and Todd Curcuru; his five grandchildren, Arin McGilvray, Alistair, Ariana and Arthas Dreher and Jane Jones; his former wife, Maureen Johnson; and his brother, Michael Curcuru.
Services will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, April 16, at the Cremation Society of New Hampshire in Manchester, N.H.
Memorial donations can be made to Mount Washington Observatory or to the Custer Institute and Observatory in Southold, N.Y.
This is a paid notice.
