Sandra Gayle Tartaglino, of Tiverton, Rhode Island, died suddenly in a tragic boating accident on Narragansett Bay Sunday, August 11, 2019.
Born in Boston, she was the daughter of John and Paula (Tracy) Tartaglino of Tiverton.
Sandra was a graduate of Taunton High School (‘76) and then achieved her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her professional ambitions aided her in the development of state of the art cardiac catheterization instruments with leading medical device corporations including Cordis Corp, Boston Scientific and Guidant Corp. She was a pioneer for women in the field of engineering.
She was a world class competitive sailor, well known in the high-performance racing world as one of the few female skippers of Formula 18s, serving as USF Class Treasurer for many years. A true lover of multi-hulls, racing in many classes including Nacra 6.0s, Hobie 16s, Nacra 17s and more. She actively competed and placed in many major championships, worldwide.. Her passion was sailing which included a special gift for educating many a willing student (crew).
Her competitive spirit and love for sailing developed early while spending many summers with her siblings growing up and sailing off Third Beach in Middletown, RI Sandra also enjoyed cooking (mostly for others), and organizing many “Cousins fajita nights” for her nieces and nephews. She traveled the globe many times as part of her sailing adventures always sharing her trinkets and swag with her nieces and nephews (usually requiring a well-executed Auntie Sandy scavenger hunt).
Besides her parents and multi-hull sailing family, she leaves behind her three sisters, Shelly T. Croft (Alfred) of Tiverton, Sharon J. Clemmey (Brian), and Sally T. Charbonneau (Brian) of Taunton MA, and her brother Stephen J. Tartaglino of Somers MT who introduced her to multi-hull sailing. She took great pride in her nine nieces and nephews, Kyle and Nicholas McGaw, Kaylee and Kirstee Clemmey, Stephan and Marc Charbonneau, Samantha, Brenton (his wife Sally), and Stephanie Tartaglino, her great-niece, Layla Pena (daughter of Kirstee Clemmey) along with many Aunts, Uncles & Cousins.
She was preceded in death by brother-in-law, Christopher J. McGaw (Shelly) and sister-in-law, Eugenia F. Tartaglino (Stephen).
Burial services for Sandra Tartaglino will be private with a Celebration of Life for Family & Friends to be held at a date still to be determined.
In her memory the family wishes to promote her love of sailing, safe boating and fostering the development of young sailors. Memorial donations may be made to the Sandra Tartaglino Memorial Fund c/o P.O. Box 491, Tiverton RI 02878.
