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
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