Dean A. Cucinotta, 47, engineer, youth coach

Dean A. Cucinotta, 47, of Haddonfield, a designer of helicopter equipment who had helped coach the Haddonfield Soccer Club since 2005, died of lung cancer Thursday, July 4, at his home.

A 1984 graduate of Moorestown Friends School, Mr. Cucinotta earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design at Syracuse University in 1989.

After running his own design firm for a few years, Mr. Cucinotta worked for Boeing Co. in Ridley Park for 19 years until retiring in June, his wife, Nicole, said Monday.

"He was doing all interface with military helicopters, all human factors," his wife said. "He was making it all safer for people to push buttons."

Mr. Cucinotta began his soccer coaching career with a youth league in Cherry Hill, his wife said, and switched to the Haddonfield club in 2005, when the older of his two children was 5. Gianna Marie is now 13, and Sophia Nicole is 11.

He got into coaching "because he wanted to make sure that the girls had fun," his wife said.

"The guy always made sure that they had fun, even when they were working very hard," she said.

Because the girls were on separate teams, that sometimes meant a seven-game weekend, his wife said.

Also, "he was really heavily involved in sailing with the kids" as members of the Ocean City Yacht Club, she said.

He was coaching there, too, in his free time, "talking to kids too scared to go in."

As a member of Sacred Heart Church in Camden, he did "a lot of volunteer work there, mostly helping out with arts festivals and delivering Christmas baskets" to the less fortunate.

Besides his wife and daughters, Mr. Cucinotta is survived by his mother, Angela; two brothers; and two sisters.

A visitation is set from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, July 9, at Sacred Heart Church, 1739 Ferry Ave., Camden, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass there. Interment is to be at Haddonfield Baptist Cemetery,

Donations may be made to the Gianna and Sophia Cucinotta Educational Trust, Wells Fargo Advisors, c/o Carol Lupo, Suite 400, 525 Route 73 N., Marlton, N.J. 08053.

Condolences may be offered to the family at Pennsylvania Burial Co., 1327 S. Broad St., Philadelphia 19147.