Obituary: Stephen Perniciaro, 66, former Chester High student

Stephen Perniciaro of Ware, Mass., died Jan. 16, 2020 at the age of 66 after battling cancer. We wish to thank all the wonderful people at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute who cared for him.

Mr. Perniciaro was born on Feb. 22, 1953 in New Britain, Conn., to Antonio and Reah (LaVallee) Perniciaro. His family moved to Vermont when Stephen started high school. He attended Chester High School and Hinckley School in Hinckley, Maine.

Mr. Perniciaro graduated from Amherst College with a degree in Fine Arts. He joined the ROTC while at Amherst, and spent three years in Germany as an artillery officer and, upon returning to the states, he served for several years in the Army Reserve. Mr. Perniciaro attained a professional engineering degree and spent 35 years working in the firearms industry. His last few years, he worked at Tsubaki Power Transmission LLC in Holyoke, Mass.

Mr. Perniciaro had many interests, among them camping, hunting, firearms and karate, where he earned a 2nd degree black belt. He also enjoyed science fiction and was an accomplished pianist. Mr. Perniciaro was an avid reader, a true student of life and enjoyed teaching others. He was truly a Renaissance man. He had a personality that left no question about where he stood — on anything. One of his greatest joys was having his family around him.

In 1973, Mr. Perniciaro married Shirleen Harrington. They were married for 46 years. He is survived by his wife, his son Giuseppe, daughter-in-law Alissa and grandsons Giovanni and Matteo. He is also survived by his sister Dawn Perniciaro Brown and her husband Robert Brown of Naples, Fla., and of Chester, and his extended family.

There is to be no service. Raise a glass of wine to celebrate Stephen’s life and all the people he touched during his time. He was the real deal. For more information or to sign the online guest book, please click here.