Obituary of Roberto Calafiore

Roberto (Bob) Calafiore,beloved husband, father, and grandfather, after many years of struggling with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis lung disease, passed away peacefully at age 78 on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at his home in Morris Plains, NJ. When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones, who gave him comfort in his final moments.

Bob was born in Sicily; but at the age of 9, he along with his parents, and his two brothers immigrated to the United States. He found beauty and simplicity in math and went on to earn a BA in Math from Rutgers University and MS in Math/Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology. This led to a 32 year career at Bell Labs - ultimately retiring as a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff.

He married in his late twenties to the love of his life, Joanne Roehrich, and was blessed with three wonderful sons. Throughout his life he received great fulfillment in providing a nurturing and loving environment for his family to thrive, grow and blossom. Until the very end of his life he continually poured his efforts, time and attention towards his beloved wife, children and grandchildren with an aim towards enriching their lives in any way he could.

Besides his dedication to his family he found great joy in teaching. He started tutoring fellow students from his sophomore year in high school through college. After his retirement from Bell Labs he went back to his first passion and started one-on-one tutoring as well as teaching at several local colleges as an adjunct professor of Math, Computer Science, and Italian. His interest went beyond his job as a math teacher and throughout his life he found himself tutoring his own children, grandchildren and many others he was fond of.

As he began his journey into fatherhood and his career, he found a deeper need to become part of a supportive community which he experienced at Saint Virgil Church. He found the teachings of Jesus extremely inspirational which had a deeply profound impact on his existence. Bob dedicated the rest of his life in a pursuit to become a more perfect living example of those teachings.

With his family or individually, he participated and led various ministries as part of the Catholic tradition. Later in his life, he expanded his reach and contributed to other traditions including the Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (MUUF) and meditation. From all his experiences, he grew to find new found fulfillment, happiness, and peace in his life that he was able to share with the ones he loved. Despite suffering from a terminal illness later in his life, he found all of these endeavors gave him tremendous strength and energy to go beyond his struggles to experience the happiest moments of his life.

He is survived by his loving wife of over 50 years, Joanne; his brother, Sergio; his 3 sons- Aron, Scott, Jason with his wife Sonia; and his 4 grandchildren- Emma, Michael, Shakti, and Anand.

Family and friends are welcome to gather on Thursday, May 29th from 4:00-7:00 PM at Dangler Funeral Home, 600 Speedwell Ave, Morris Plains, NJ 07950. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St Virgil Church, 250 Speedwell Ave, Morris Plains, NJ 07950 on Friday, May 30th at 10:00 AM followed by interment at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 225 Ridgedale Ave, East Hanover, NJ 07936.

An additional memorial service celebrating his life followed by a repass will be held at Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (MUUF) on a date to be announced later. Please let the family know if you would like to be informed of the date and time of this event.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks to please make a donation in his name to your favorite charity.