Jeffrey David Marino

Jeffrey D. Marino, 64, passed away unexpectedly Friday August 14th. He was the beloved partner and husband of Patricia Leporacci-Marino for over 20 years. He was the “Big Dog” to three treasured dogs Louie, Sugar and JoJo as well as two spoiled cats Luciano and Betty-Boop. Jeff and Pat loved spending time in their ever-expanding woodland garden on Ministerial Road. Born and raised in Westerly, he was a son of the late Joseph, Jr. and Mary E. (Psimer) Marino. Mary Elizabeth inspired and encouraged her son to be a professional chef. At J&W Culinary, Jeff found his true calling and passion. Mr. Marino was an Executive Chef at the University of Rhode Island for over 30 years. He was known as “Chef Jeff’ to everyone he met. Jeff had an outgoing personality and enjoyed making connections with people and was happy to help anyone fix a problem. He loved feeding people and throughout the year, especially during holiday season, he baked thousands of Biscotti and delivered them to friends and business people in the area. Besides his wife, he is survived by three sisters Betty Springer, Rose Tilley, Anna Chappell; a brother Jonathan Marino,; as well as two children Stacy Marino and Jonathan Marino. Chef Jeff was a memorable character full of playful banter, hard work, unending enthusiasm and creativity for cooking. While he tried very hard to maintain a tough gruff exterior, everyone knew he had a heart of gold. He will be missed by all the 2-leggeds and 4-leggeds who knew him.