Nice Guy with a Tough Exterior - Nov. 28, 2001
Lt. Charles "Chuck" Margiotta, 44, was a 240-pound football player and movie stuntman with a stern façade and tattoos. The 20-year fire department veteran also was known by his colleagues at Ladder Co. 85 in Staten Island as one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet -- a gardener who grew tomato plants at the firehouse; a caring neighbor and a devoted father who coached his kids' basketball, softball and soccer teams. On Sept. 11, when he heard the news of the World Trade Center on his truck radio, he drove to the nearest firehouse and jumped on the rig with Co. 5 in Staten Island. He is survived by his wife, Norma, and his children, Norma Jean and Charles Vito II; his parents, Charles Vito and Amelia (Molly); and his brother, Michael. --Compiled by Newsday

Charles Joseph Margiotta, a firefighter for the New York FireDepartment, was a stuntman in dozens of feature films, including “Hannibal.” He also was aprivate investigator, a substitute school teacher, a soccer coach, a father, a husband, ahunter. “He wasn’t happy unless he was doing four things at once,” said his brother, Michael. The tattooed, musclebound 240-pounder was a tough guy but wasn’t one-dimensional; he had adegree in English and sociology from Brown University. “He was the champion of the underdog,”Michael Margiotta said. “If you were the kid nobody wanted in a choose-up game, you wouldn’tbe his last pick. You’d be his first pick.” --The Associated Press

Return to Charles' Home Page