Charles Morea, 61, former principal at Ronkonkoma Middle School

It can be intimidating to get sent to the principal. But former Ronkonkoma Middle School Principal Charles “Chuck” Morea made sure his office was a space where all students felt comfortable.

“A kid would come [into his office] in distress and would always leave feeling better,” said Sue Volkman, a Ronkonkoma Middle School math teacher.

Morea’s approach was to never let a kid feel embarrassed. Instead, he aimed to help students understand why they were in trouble, she added. 

“He would always handle [them] with kindness, with his wisdom almost like of a grandfather,” Volkman said.

Morea, who served as principal until 2020, died June 5 of Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 61.

Morea was born in Manhattan on May 1, 1962. An avid Yankees fan, his love of sports blossomed in childhood. He played soccer and baseball at Longwood High School, where he also met his future wife. 

“At the time, my dad was single and [his friends] made a bet,” Morea’s daughter, Marissa Carlucci, said. “They said, ‘The next girl that walks down the hall, Chuck, you have to ask her out.’ My dad said, ‘No problem, but she has to be pretty.’ ”

Linda Marangoni walked down the hall and into Morea’s life. The two married in 1987 and went on to have two kids, Marissa and Dominick.

After graduating from Hofstra University in 1984, Morea began his career with gigs in insurance and real estate. He came from a construction family and had stints building houses.

“He built every single home that we've lived in,” Carlucci said. “He told my husband he has built over 300 homes in total.”

Morea shifted his career to education and attended Stony Brook University to get his master’s degree. His first teaching job was at Connetquot High School leading classes in sports marketing and business law. Morea transitioned into administrative roles, becoming assistant principal at his alma mater, Longwood High School, before returning to the Connetquot school district to lead Ronkonkoma Middle School.

“His legacy is that he wanted to make a difference in every kid's life,” said Karen Giallanza, who was a secretary at Ronkonkoma Middle School.

Morea established the ACEs club for honor roll students at the school, encouraged student- and teacher-of-the-month recognitions, held an extensive Veterans Day program every year, and gave each student special attention.

“He took the moving up ceremony for the eighth graders to new heights,” said Giallanza.

Morea put together a loose-leaf binder filled with pronunciations of every student’s name.

“He would ask me to do all the phonetics for him to make sure he pronounced the kids' names correctly [because] he felt that a name is something that's really important,” said Giallanza.

Small details like that mattered to Morea.

“He did not settle for anything less than perfection in any avenue in his life,” Carlucci said.

Despite being a perfectionist, Morea was also a known jokester who played pranks on the family and dominated games of TriviaPop, his family said.

He brought that humor into the workplace.

“We did a lot of variety shows and he would get right up on stage with us. He wasn't embarrassed,” Volkman said.

One year, Morea surprised the crowd by joining the teachers for a rendition of “Grease."

“He put on his leather jacket and sunglasses and came right up on stage,” Volkman said. “Nobody was expecting the principal to be up there doing that.”

After his ALS diagnosis in 2011, Morea remained committed to the school.

“He came to work in a wheelchair and drove a van with hand controls until the disease worked its way up to his hands and he could no longer drive,” his wife, Linda Morea, said.

When the disease forced Charles Morea to retire, the community took it hard.

“A lot of people called the schools; they were crying,” Giallanza said.

As dedicated as he was to his job, Morea made sure to be at his children's sports games, dance recitals and cheerleading competitions.

“My dad was our sports coach from the time we started until the time we graduated,” Carlucci said.

Morea is survived by his wife, children and a grandchild who is named after him.