Rosario Thomas Mudano

Rosario Thomas Mudano, born May 22nd, 1927, died at his home in Durham, North Carolina on November 21st, 2020.

Rosario was a proud first-generation Italian American. He was born and raised on Long Island, New York. Immediately upon his graduation from Valley Stream Central High School, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and served in Wiesbaden, Germany from 1945-1946 at the end of World War II. Following his service, he attended Northern Arizona University and ultimately earned his B.A. from Syracuse University and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School. In 1954 he married Belle Wagstaff of Roxboro, North Carolina, and from that point forward they were hardly ever found apart from one another. Married 66 years, she was by his side when he passed.

Rosie moved to Durham in 1984. He retired from a long career in the insurance business in 1992 and settled into retired life. He miraculously survived a battle with pancreatic cancer and gave his family the gift of nearly 25 more years. He was a voracious reader and always current on world events.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his two daughters, Jane Mudano of Durham and Cathryn Mudano DuBow (Richard) of Atlanta, Georgia, and three grandchildren, Gregory (Kristi), Daniel and Claire DuBow. He is remembered by his family as heroic in the way he showed up every day for those he loved -- unassuming, present, and always ready to calm an anxious heart with a dose of dry humor and, if it was after 5 p.m., a cold glass of cheap red wine.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Father Purcell Memorial Children’s Center, 2048 W. Fairview Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36108