Eugene Sartori

A memorial service for Eugene (Gene) Ferdinand Sartori who passed away on January 15, 2017, will be held at 11:00, January 20, at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, RI. Gene was born on November 14, 1920 in Kansas City, MO to Margaret DeMayo Sartori and Emil Baptist Sartori. His love of music, which began at an early age with a solo piano recital at the age of 13, performance with a small orchestra at the age of 17, and continued public and private performances throughout his final days. He met his first wife, Florence Edith Lerch (Dottie) when they were seated next to each other in the school orchestra. They were married in 1940. Gene graduated from MIT with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1942 and went to work for Bell Telephone Laboratories. He continued his education at Stevens Institute of Technology, earning a Masters Degree. Prior to his retirement from Bell Labs in 1983, he was awarded the Distinguished Member of Technical Staff Award.Genes love of music resulted with him becoming involved in church choirs, other singing groups and community bands. He was a self-taught organist and gladly became organist at several churches he attended. In 1979, he married Shirley Rucker Andrus and together they did extensive traveling on the road in the USA, Canada, and Mexico as well as numerous trips around the world by cruise ship. Gene and Shirley lived on Sun City West, AZ for 30 years before moving to Portsmouth.In addition to his wife, Shirley, he is survived by his children Alan Eugene Sartori, Brian Douglas Sartori (Mary Ellen), Cheryl Smith, Sharon May, step children Janet Eadie (Greg), Carol Valesco (Rome), Jack Andrus, Kathryn Zaccone (Charlie), Grandchildren Ben Smith (Amanda), Jennifer Smith (Nic), Michael Smith, Tiffany May, Walter Cavanagh, Samantha Cavanagh, Alex Cavanagh (Valerie), Michael OBrien, Mark Eadie, Matthew Zaccone, Zachary Zaccone and Bill Lawson, Jr. He was predeceased by his parents, his first wife Dottie, and his sister Frances Tassie Livingston.