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Donald A. Cucinelli
Date of Death: February 28, 2021
Date of Birth: April 2, 1945
Biography:
Donald Arthur Cucinelli, Born Beverly Ma., April 2, 1945 to Dante Dominic and Barbara Ruth (née Brown) Cucinelli, passed away peacefully at home on February 28th 2021 of complications related to pulmonary fibrosis, surrounded by the love of his family. One of six children, he loved growing up in an Italian neighborhood and living on the ocean. He graduated from Beverly High School in 1963 where he played football, and spent summers lifeguarding.
In 1963 he joined the US Coast Guard and twice traveled to Antarctica from Boston, aboard the *Eastwind,* a USCG icebreaker and scientific research
vessel as part of *Operation Deep Freeze, 1963-65, *an experience that strongly shaped his world view. The expeditions took him through the Panama
Canal, New Santiago Chile, Tiera del Fuego, the Palmer Peninsula and McMurdo Sound, Antarctica as well as to American Samoa, Suva Fiji, Auckland
and Wellington NZ. Upon returning home he was stationed at the Salem Air Station as a search and rescue swimmer.
In 1970 Don joined the Massachusetts State Police as an officer and Academy firearms instructor, working in the State Police Narcotics Unit, Drug
Enforcement Administration, and several district attorneys’ offices. In the 1980s he founded Search Inc., a private investigation firm. In the mid
1980s he obtained his sea captain’s license and settled in the mid-coast region of Maine, traveling to Key West, Florida and the Caribbean, where he
worked delivering schooners. Later he lived and worked extensively in the American Southwest and opened a southwest store in Belfast and Camden
Maine, called Tate’s Treasures.
He loved cats, dogs and horses, sailing, bird watching and the pristine wilderness. Lover of the ocean, adventure, good food, and the sun, he is
survived by his wife Sarah Ames Cucinelli, Daughter Sarah Cucinelli, son-in-law Scott Kitchen, Son Andy Judd, three beautiful grandchildren, as
well as a loving and extended family of friends, and predeceased by daughter Jennifer.
Donations can be made in his honor to the Midcoast Maine Humane Society,190 Pleasant Street Brunswick, ME 04011, *(207) 449-1366*.