Ettore Joseph Troiani of East Quogue Dies October 23

Ettore Joseph Troiani of East Quogue died on October 23. He was 86.

He was born on June 17, 1937, and died on the morning of October 23, 2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Troiani (aka Eddie Spaghetti) was the son of Joseph and Mary Troiani and brother of Ralph and Beatrice Troiani.

His boyhood years were spent in Brooklyn, where he played stickball, watched the Brooklyn Dodgers, and probably got into a bit of mischief. He went on to serve in the U.S. Navy, traveling the world.

He was a visionary and moved his family to the Hamptons well before the Hamptons became “The Hamptons,” his family said.

He was a detail-oriented perfectionist and a highly skilled flight test engineer, but his real passions were organic gardening, enjoying the beauty and bounty of the surrounding beaches, listening to music, spectator sports, golf, antiquing, and restoring vintage cars.

Great quality, delicious food was paramount to him, and much of it came from the prolific garden and fruit trees he expertly tended to.

He was intensely proud of his Italian heritage and ensured that love of all things Italian was passed on to his children. His passion for Christmas manifested in an annual trek for a live Christmas tree (in a Volkswagen with holes in the floor or not), his overseeing of the meticulously draped one-strand-at-a-time tinsel, and his enthusiastic proclamation of “Sette e mezzo” during post-holiday-feast card games.

He lived life with gusto, his family said, noting that they “hope heaven is ready for him and that he finds eternal peace.”

He is survived by his children, Loretta Troiani (Justin Brooks), Christine Corey, Beatrice Troiani and Joseph Troiani; his grandchildren, Christa and Gianna Constantine and Joseph and Katelyn Corey; and his great-grandchild, Edith Constantine-Lancaster.