Michael E. Curan, whose life was defined by his love of family, food, and community, died on July 2, 2026.

He passed away peacefully in his sleep after a long illness. He was 94.

Michael — known as Mike to close friends and family and PopPop to his five beloved grandchildren — was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 2, 1931. He was the fifth of six children born to Angela (Lena) Sicuranza, née Sieban, and Alfred Sicuranza. Throughout their lives, the six siblings enjoyed extremely close bonds. All shared a passion for home-cooked Italian food and loved to break bread together on holidays and at parties for christenings, graduations and other milestones for the extended family.

Lena and Alfred were natives of Germany and Italy, respectively, who fell in love in New York City, braving their families’ disapproval to get married. When Michael was six years old, Lena died unexpectedly. After a difficult period, the children moved in with two of Lena’s sisters, Anna and Margaret, sharing the house Anna owned on Chauncey Street in Brooklyn.

Anna staffed a token booth in the New York City subway system, ingeniously stretching a limited budget to care for her nieces and nephews. Michael always spoke of his aunts with love and admiration, singling out Anna as a remarkable woman. In her rare off-hours, Anna enjoyed tending a rose garden in her backyard. Michael discovered his lifelong passion for gardening there. A green thumb was one of his many gifts, and he loved to grow fragrant roses, including Rosa Tropicana tea roses, in the garden of his house in Floral Park, New York. To the end of his life, he tended a flourishing container garden with basil, Italian parsley, sage, and a vivid red geranium.

Their early years were a challenging period for Michael and his siblings — Alfred Sicuranza, Bernard Sicuranza, John Curan, Kathleen Burkett and Annmarie Lowe — but they supported and nurtured each other. Michael and Annmarie, who was three years his junior, were often left to their own devices at home. They liked to listen to radio shows, including “The Shadow,” and formed an intense, affectionate bond that endured until her passing in 2007.

A Catholic school in Brooklyn was one of several primary schools Michael attended. That experience ignited an abiding faith that became a lifelong source of solace and strength. Michael prayed every day and attended Mass on Sundays and first Fridays. Perhaps most importantly, he lived his faith, acting with kindness and compassion, seeking to repair rifts in relationships, and standing up for what he believed was right, even when that belief proved unpopular. He also welcomed strangers; there was always another seat at the Curan table and a heaping plate of home-cooked food to enjoy.

He attended Manual Training High School in Brooklyn, becoming president of the senior class and captain of the football team. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy. Michael served during the Korean War and received an honorable discharge in 1953.

Michael received G.I. Bill benefits and enrolled in Princeton University in 1954, graduating with honors in 1958 with an A.B. in politics. He loved Princeton, returning regularly throughout his life for major reunions every five years — including his 65th in 2023 — and homecoming football games. As an undergraduate, he enjoyed living on Princeton’s bucolic campus, writing his senior thesis, and participating in social activities at Dial Lodge, an eating club. As he often fondly recollected, “Princeton taught me how to think.”

He roomed with Carroll James, Jim Clarke, William Cox, Gib Kirwin, and Ken Lenert, who became Michael’s lifelong friends. They shared a suite in Patton Hall senior year and regularly returned to Old Nassau together after graduation for Reunions and football games. Their unofficial seventh roommate was Anthony (Buddy) Burke, a friend Michael had worked with in New York City, who often came to Princeton for party weekends. Until his death in 2021, Buddy regularly attended homecoming games and Reunions with Michael and other Patton suite mates,
who playfully dubbed Buddy “the Phantom of ’58.”

In the spring of his senior year, Michael met Charlotte Curan, née Hansell. They were married on April 17, 1960. The two were soulmates, a dynamic team in the kitchen (he did the gourmet cooking, and she baked the extraordinary desserts), and devoted parents, grandparents, and friends.

They began their married life in New York City. Michael enrolled in the Fordham University School of Law, learning to cook in order to stretch their funds and because they enjoyed collaborating in the kitchen. He earned an L.L.B. in 1963 and became licensed to practice law in New York in 1964. As an undergraduate, Michael had spent summers working as a purser on a ship that traveled from New York to Panama, prompting an interest in maritime law. In 1964, he joined the maritime law firm Haight, Gardner, Poor & Havens as an attorney. 

Michael and Charlotte wanted a family and soon had a son, Michael, and a daughter, Margaret (Peggy). After the birth of their third child, Catherine, they moved from Stuyvesant Town in New York City to a house in the Village of Floral Park. Bernard and his family already made their home in Floral Park. Annmarie and Alfred and their families were also on Long Island, making it easy to trade hosting duty for major holidays. John and his family  visited from Maryland on Easter Sunday, and Kathleen visited from North Dakota during the summer. 

The kitchen was the center of Michael and Charlotte’s house on Clover Avenue, the site of many hours of prep work for parties and Curan family dinners. After work, Michael played four-wall handball at the Downtown Athletic Club, often missing weeknight dinners with his family. To offset this absence, Michael insisted that his children be home for dinner on Saturday and Sunday nights. On Saturday afternoons, he would prepare Italian food while listening to Puccini or Verdi operas. On Sunday, the theme was German food, and the turntable spun Beethoven or Wagner.

He could cook almost anything, and every regular guest at his table can tell you their favorite recipe(s) from his repertoire. For some, it was chicken cacciatore with Mafaldine and melted mozzarella; for others, escarole soup with Italian meatballs and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or linguine with clam sauce cooked in oil and butter and dotted with fresh parsley — Michael’s standard dish for Good Friday. Charlotte knew she could rely on him for delectable fried eggplant on her birthday and chipped beef on toast (a dish he teasingly called by the off-color name it was known by in the Navy) for breakfast on Mother’s Day. If he had once cooked a memorable meal for you and you requested it a decade later, Michael would happily recreate the dish. He also had near-total recall for the menus he had prepared for major parties, including his son’s christening party, decades after the event. His Chinese cooking, including home-made char Siu for egg rolls, was a family favorite. For many years, he and Charlotte enjoyed hosting a gourmet club with friends, preparing and sharing dishes from different cuisines.

Michael was the kind of father who would crank up the stereo and host dance parties in the living room for his daughters and their friends when they had sleepovers during their primary-school years. His daughter Catherine traces the origins of her lifelong love of Greek language and culture to an album of Greek songs, including poems set to music, that Michael shared with the family. No one understood the lyrics, but everyone happily sang along as best as they could to the hits from Stavros Xarhakos, especially a catchy tune called “Lefteri.” Michael was also
always up for a round of a silly family game called Grump, which essentially involved two teams of kids running around the house, shouting and laughing and trying to tickle each other. If your team was a little short on players, he would happily join in and enlist the family dog, Smokey, who would bark enthusiastically.

Michael’s love for children underpinned his devotion to his many nieces and nephews, and in time, their children too. Each niece and nephew was special to him, and he particularly enjoyed home-cooked meals with the extended family on Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving. Uncle Mike and Aunt Charlotte’s lasagna became a much-requested staple dish for these gatherings.

His work as an attorney included roles in government and the private sector. After Haight Gardner, he joined Merrill Lynch as director of national litigation. He later joined the state government in New York as the first deputy superintendent of insurance. Michael had a fiercely independent spirit, and at age 50, he launched his own firm. Ultimately, Michael collaborated with Keith Ahlers to create the law firm of Curan & Ahlers, specializing in insurance, reinsurance, and personal injury cases. Michael remained at Curan & Ahlers until his retirement. 

Michael was a true Renaissance man who enjoyed many hobbies and interests beyond cooking and gardening. He was an avid reader of fiction and history who never missed an issue of the New York Times Book Review or the New York Times Magazine. He and Charlotte were a skilled duo at the bridge table, and they lit up the floor at weddings and parties with their fluid and graceful dancing. The couple treasured their regular visits to the Metropolitan Opera for productions of favorite operas, including Aida, Tosca and Turandot. Michael and Charlotte also enjoyed traveling internationally with groups of friends, touring Germany, Sicily, Spain and England.  

Yet Michael was happiest at home. He was very proud of his family and loved spending time with them. When his children were little, he cooked pancakes and bacon for breakfast on Saturday mornings. Sunday featured a rotating menu of homemade scones, waffles and donuts before church. He was a big supporter of his children’s participation in sports, cheering loudly from the sidelines of his son’s football games and volunteering as an assistant coach for his daughter Catherine’s soccer team. 

While his children were growing up, Michael’s preferred summer vacation was a rented house at Breezy Point where the family could both relax and entertain. To prepare for the trip, he and Charlotte would pack their car full of summer clothes, swimsuits and beach gear — plus other Curan family summer essentials including extra-large pots for sauce and pasta, two woks and a wok stand, imported olive oil, and a French rolling pin. Every weekend, they hosted a different group of family or friends for beach days followed by epic feasts. 

He also had a soft spot for animals. Shortly after moving to Floral Park, the Curans adopted Smokey, a Collie-Shepherd mix with black fur. Michael developed a beloved routine of evening walks to a nearby schoolyard where the dog and the kids could run freely. The family later adopted a cat, Scruffy, who loved to curl up on Michael’s lap while he and Charlotte watched TV and steal bites of Michael’s dessert. 

As Michael and Charlotte’s children left home, got married and started families of their own, he welcomed the role of father-in-law and PopPop. He always ensured that his grandchildren’s favorite foods were on hand — or the ingredients were ready to be freshly cooked — when they came to visit.

Those who loved Michael will think of him often: while tending plants, listening to “Nessun dorma,” reading a good book, chopping garlic, stirring marinara sauce, and even (im)patiently waiting for a rolling boil before adding pasta to a pot. His strong sense of justice and compassionate Christian faith will remain guiding lights.

In the last months of his life — beset by chronic health challenges, which he endured with stoicism and grace — Michael could no longer prepare the enormous feasts that brought him, Charlotte, their family and friends such joy. But a few days before he died, his son Michael and daughter-in-law Carolyn, grandsons Thomas and James, daughter Peggy and son-in-law Cameron, and daughter Catherine, son-in-law John, and granddaughter Ingrid joined him and Charlotte for a family meal. Though Michael was not able to cook, the family gathered around
the table together, laughing, joking, and sharing a final hearty Italian feast.

Michael is survived by his beloved wife of 66 years, Charlotte, his children, Michael, Peggy and Catherine; his daughter-in-law Carolyn Curan; two sons-in-law, Cameron Haugen and John Schneider; and grandchildren Jonathan, Brian, Thomas, James and Ingrid. He was predeceased by his parents, Lena and Alfred, siblings Alfred, Bernard, Kathleen, John, and Annmarie, half-brother Victor, and aunts Anna, Mary and Margaret.