Obituary of John F. Caruso, influential civil engineer who led the fight for cleanup of Grumman Navy Plume

John Caruso of Massapequa passed away on November 7, 2024. John attended Manual Training High School in Brooklyn, where in addition to growing his love of engineering, he was an All-City batting champion for their baseball team. Later in life, he served as a coach for the Massapequa International Little League for more than a decade, where he helped lead teams to championships, including a Senior Division NY State Championship in 1997. He graduated from CCNY with a degree in civil engineering in 1968. Soon after graduation, he married the love of his life, Marion, who he grew up with in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park. As a teen and young man, John played drums professionally with a group called “Citations.” His wife remembers assisting him lug his large drum set on the NYC subway system on his way to playing gigs in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Upon graduating in 1968 John immediately worked for a number of engineering firms, where he specialized in construction management for major municipal projects, including the construction of the VA Hospital in the city. He ultimately became the Deputy Commissioner of the Nassau County Department of Public Works, where he specialized in groundwater remediation projects, as well as the enormous upgrade to the Cedar Creek Sewage Treatment Plant. In his role as deputy commissioner, he was the first civil service engineer to create an in-depth model of the Grumman Navy Plume and spent the rest of his career pushing for the complete cleanup of it, the largest plume of its kind in a sole source aquifer in America. John also served as Water Commissioner for the Massapequa Water District, where for 19 years he continued to lead the fight to push for the cleanup and remediation of the plume, collaborating with neighboring water districts.

John spent his career modeling, documenting and fighting to protect residents in the path of the Grumman Navy plume. He identified the parameters and led a team of experts to help pick up the momentum of this complicated cleanup. In 2017, he became Deputy Commissioner for the Town of Oyster Bay’s Department of Public Works and put enormous efforts into the remediation of the plume, especially the cleanup of Bethpage Community Park. His expertise in engineering, remediation and environmental law have been an integral resource in continuing to push for these important efforts. Thanks to his extensive expertise and experience, the process has moved forward and has cleared numerous obstacles.

John had a great love of baseball, music, Italian food and sports cars – and he had an even greater love of family. He is survived by his wife Marion, and two sons – Dr. John Caruso (Ashley, with two daughters Payden and Haillie), and Michael Caruso (Christine), and John’s grandchildren Natalia and London. His sister, Christine, also passed this year.

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