The news article said that Vitarelli, also known as “Vit” or “Rubak,” died at his home with hospice care Jan. 19.
The article also noted that Virarelli “dedicated his life to the people in Palau, working there in the 1970s to make education accessible to Micronesians.”
The news said Vitarelli’s 59-year-old wife, Charlaine, said her husband’s body was placed in a coffin and taken out to sea off the Maliko Boat Ramp area Thursday morning.
Vitarelli was born Oct. 21, 1910, in New York City and was of Italian ancestry. He received a doctorate degree from Columbia University in 1948.
He worked as an educational administrator and community development official in Micronesia for more than 25 years, mainly in Palau, but also in Guam, Saipan, Yap and the Marshall Islands.
The article stated that Vitarelliserved as vice president for research and development at the University of Guam in the early 1970s and was the special adviser to the Belau Modekngei School.
Vtarelli moved to Maui in 1976 with his family and first wife, Henrietta. She died in 2003.
After World War II, Vitarelli was a community development specialist in Palau, it was under Trust Territory at that time.
The article said “when he refused to carry out a superior’s plans to militarize Palau, Vitarelli was labeled a communist sympathizer and fired. He fought his firing and won a landmark wrongful termination lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959. He then returned to Palau.”
He is survived by his wife, Charlaine; five children, Sandy Vitarelli, Margo Vitarelli, David (Naoko) Vitarelli, Don Vitarelli and Janice (Hideaki “Santa”) Miyoshi; and 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
On January 31 Vitarelli’s service will beheld at his home in Haiku, Maui.
