Roger Emil Cavallo – born to the late Ruggiero and Mary Cavallo in Somerville, Mass., on October 24, 1944 – concluded his earthly life on May 5, 2026, with his wife, Colleen, by his side, as she was throughout their 51 years of marriage. Mourning his loss are Colleen and their five children, Lydia, Ruggiero II (Giro), Giancarlo (Carlo), Maria Corrina, and Cristiana. Roger was father-in-law to Jay Zasa (Lydia’s husband), Wen (Giro’s wife), and Jon Lehrer (Cristiana’s husband). And he delighted in his grandchildren, Zackary, Lucia, Xavier, Roger II, Raffaello, Emilio, and Paolo, who lovingly called him Nonno.

Roger – “Roy” to his Massachusetts family – was preceded in death by his beloved older brother Vincent, cousins Angela and Bob DeMichele and Christian Ciavarro, and is survived by sisters Frances Cavallo and Ann Cavallo-Hartnett, brother-in-law Michael Hartnett, sister-in-law Marcia Spraker-Cavallo, and cousin Lenny Ciavarro. He was also predeceased by parents-in-law Robert and Dolores Donovan and brothers-in-law Bobby Donovan and Jim Eckert on Colleen’s side of the family. His extended family includes cousins and nephews in Massachusetts, cousins in Italy, and Colleen’s family rooted in Endicott, NY.

Roger graduated from Christopher Columbus Catholic High School in Boston’s North End. He earned his B.S. in Economics from Boston College and his PhD from SUNY Binghamton’s School of Advanced Technology, where he received the distinguished dissertation award. He then began his 45-year tenure as a professor of Computer Science at SUNY College of Technology, later renamed SUNY Institute of Technology, and now SUNY Polytechnic (much to his chagrin). He was a visiting lecturer in Austria, a Faculty Exchange Scholar in Russia, held various distinguished research grants, was elected by his peers as department chair, and received a Distinguished Professor award. His many publications include: Systems Methodology in Social Science Research, The Theory of Probabilistic Databases (co-authored with Michael Pittarelli), and numerous professional papers. He was a natural, enthusiastic, and unforgettable teacher, briefly of high school math as a young man before his PhD studies, and then for decades at SUNY. He especially loved being an advisor, mentoring and helping his students take next steps in their research and studies.

In Roger’s early years in Somerville and Boston, he enjoyed Sunday morning mass and meatballs with his father, making late-night donuts with his mother, touch football with his brother and cousins, trips to Revere Beach and Cape Cod with his sisters, and leisurely hours at candlepin bowling alleys, pool halls, and race tracks. And though prone to youthful mischief around his Winter Hill neighborhood growing up, his outsized intellect, boundless curiosity, and aptitude for mathematics led him to a life of scholarship.

Roger and Colleen met while working at SUNY Binghamton. The two united in marriage in 1975 and established roots in Utica, NY, in 1980, where they would build a life and family for the next 45 years in their loving home on Holland Avenue.

Roger was joyfully devoted to family and home life. He never missed (though often arrived late to) his children’s many dance performances, musical recitals, and sporting events. He was his sons’ first soccer coach, driving around town week after week picking up and cramming team members into his Saab for practices and games. He rallied the family for camping trips, weekend drives, and long afternoons exploring book, music, and health food stores. He loved annual vacations to Cape Cod, including his and Colleen’s honeymoon, and always seemed to be his most relaxed while there. A voracious collector of books and records, as well as treasures from travels, auctions, antique stores, and yard sales, Roger filled the family house with objects and ideas that reflected his wide-ranging interests and curiosity. He was an avid crossword puzzler, a formidable player of Ms. Pacman, tetris, and pinball, and reveled in helping his children and grandchildren with their most complicated math homework. Many days and nights you could find Roger on the back porch, cigarette burning beside a stack of papers to grade, while music, life, and his family orbited around him.

Roger was a self-taught guitar player, especially skilled in acoustic fingerpicking, and he loved to sing, whether lullabies to his kids or impromptu back-porch performances enjoyed by any neighbors within ear-shot. His taste in music, while rooted in great singer-songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, and Bruce Cockburn (all played often and loudly in the house), was dynamic and he was always discovering new artists to incorporate into the soundtrack of his and his family’s life. He helped instill in his kids a profound appreciation for song and a joy in expanding cultural horizons through experiences with music. 

A deep love of food and a gift for intuitive cooking, much of which was inherited from his father and rooted in their Italian heritage, were also central parts of Roger’s life and identity. As with music, with food he knew almost no boundaries in exploring all the delicious things the world has to offer. Nights in the Cavallo household often stretched exuberantly into early morning hours, filled with booming music, dancing, card games, and the unmistakable sound of Roger singing loudly from the kitchen as the aroma of garlic, seafood, and sauce drifted through the house. If you dozed off at some point in the night while he was at work in the kitchen, you could wake up hours later to plates of food so skillfully and soulfully prepared that staying up late felt less like losing sleep and more like gaining access to something magical. Roger showed us the joys of being a night owl, and it especially paid to be one alongside him.

His Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes was legendary. His family is so grateful he was able to share a beautiful final Christmas season in the home, enjoying their most meaningful traditions together. He even proclaimed, “This may be the best Christmas we’ve had,” and reiterated the sentiment over the months following.

Although Roger did not have familial roots in Utica, his love for the region was deep, often expressed out loud, and infectious. He valued and connected with the Italian heritage, signature foods, and vibrant immigrant communities that define the area. He loved visiting the local farmers’ markets each weekend, where he was on a first-name basis with many food and craft vendors whose products filled his kitchen and were thoughtfully selected as gifts for his loved ones. Roger was a regular at Utica’s Asian food markets, and every Sunday after church, he and his family would “make the rounds,” crisscrossing the town with stops at Cafe Caruso, Florentine, Giuseppe’s, Danielle’s, Maria’s, Rosa’s, Big O, Bossone’s, and other local favorites, to source the best home cooking and baked goods Utica has to offer.

Roger was marveled at by many – family, friends, peers, and doctors – for the vigor and determination with which he battled, persisted, and survived against significant health challenges during his senior years. His remarkable resilience earned him the nickname “Miracle Man” among some who knew and loved him. In 2010, Roger received a life-saving liver transplant, donated by his beloved wife Colleen. He overcame cancerous growths in multiple organs. For the final six years of his life he required hemodialysis treatment, which Colleen learned to administer herself at home in order to maximize treasured family time. Roger was grateful to have enjoyed more years than we dared to expect, due in significant part to the steadfast love and dedication of his wife and family. His eldest son Giro was especially devoted, seeing it as his honor to provide extraordinary companionship, research, and vigilant advocacy for his Dad through every trial and stage of his health journey, beginning to end. 

Roger was a faithful Catholic throughout his life, and imparted that faith in subtle and profound ways to children and grandchildren. In Utica, he attended St. Francis De Sales church, then Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Mary of Mt. Carmel. He also attended weekly novenas at Our Lady of the Rosary for many years. During his many recent hospital stays, he cherished visits from the two priests who ministered to him regularly at Wynn Hospital, bringing him the sacraments through to his time of transition from this world to the next.

Roger was an extraordinary force, maintaining a zest for life until his final days, always proposing the next outing, adventure, or grand meal. In health and in sickness, he saw life as something to be treasured, and inspired those around him to follow suit. At every stage of life, his presence was an immeasurable blessing. Roger’s absence leaves a gaping and unfillable hole, but the joy, enthusiasm, intelligence, curiosity, faith, and love he poured into his family will endure and ripple forward in ways beyond our reckoning.

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All of our Dad’s passions found their greatest expression in fatherhood. We, his 5 children, wrote this obituary together with our mother in profound gratitude, to testify to the extraordinary life, love, and spirit we’ve been blessed with.

Roger’s Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday, May 11, 2026, at 10:30 a.m., at Mary, Mother of Our Savior Parish, Utica, formerly known as Church of Our Lady of Lourdes. The family will receive visitors on Sunday, at the Matt Funeral Home, 700 Rutger St., corner of Mohawk St., Utica, from 4 to 6 p.m. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery.

Roger's funeral mass will be live streamed and can be found at the following link https://www.youtube.com/@MaryMotherUticaNY/streams 

Arrangements are with the Matt Funeral Home.