Obituary: Nancy Cacioppo, Longtime Rockland Journalist

from the family

Nancy Cacioppo, a longtime journalist and arts columnist for the Rockland Journal-News, died on August 27 at her home in West Yarmouth, MA, at age 79.

Nancy began as a beat reporter at the Nyack, NY, newspaper in 1966, among the first women in a male-dominated newsroom, covering government, police, and general news. In time, as her natural interests in the arts, particularly theater and the visual arts, became evident to editors, Nancy was assigned to interview a wide range of people, from stars of Broadway and film to local artists and musicians.

In Nancy’s 38 years with the newspaper, she covered the great growth in the arts, such as at the Rockland Center for the Arts, the Edward Hopper House, and the Thorpe Gallery in Sparkill, plus numerous galleries. Her passion for history was reflected in many of the articles she wrote about the Rockland County Historical Society and other items of local history; in 2005, she received the Margaret B. and John R. Zehner Award for her contribution to historic preservation.

She was also a member of the Rockland County Civil War Roundtable and, after moving to Cape Cod, the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, for which she edited and helped write, Ghosts, Myths and Legends as Told to the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth.

Her personal interest in theater led Nancy to lend her talents as stage manager and properties designer at Nyack’s Elmwood Playhouse in the 1970s and 1980s.

While living in Nyack, she bought a sailboat, taking it out frequently on the Hudson. It was at the water’s edge, in her retirement on Cape Cod, that Nancy found her greatest peace.

Born Nancy Anne Sangster in Ottawa, Canada, on October 29, 1942, Nancy and her parents moved to New York City when she was two, and then to their home in New City, NY, in 1953. She was a 1960 Spring Valley High School graduate and got her BA in journalism at Fairleigh Dickinson University. After a short marriage, she and her daughter, Laurel, moved to Nyack in 1966, where she lived until her retirement.

Nancy is survived by her daughter, Laurel Avery, and granddaughter, Maya Avery-Combes, who live in the Netherlands.

In keeping with Nancy's love of the water, she asked that her ashes be scattered overlooking Nauset Beach on Cape Cod, “where I can hear the sea.”

In remembrance of Nancy, any charitable donations may be made in her name to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.