Though DeAngelo, who was 74, had battled a heart ailment in recent weeks, his passing was unexpected, school officials said Monday.
“Joe DeAngelo was Badin and Badin was Joe,” said Badin High Principal Brian Pendergest. “He was dedicated to this building, to our mission and most of all to our students. He loved our students, and he was a genuine caring individual. He had a lot of pride in everything he did. There is a huge hole in the Badin family right now.”
DeAngelo was a marketing education teacher at Badin and was affectionately known as “Mr. D” by decades of students and school staffers.
He started teaching at the school in 1967.
“I love Badin, I love the students, the families – Badin is just an unbelievable place to be,” DeAngelo said during an assembly at Badin on what was proclaimed “Joseph DeAngelo Day” in the city of Hamilton on Dec. 12, 2012.
DeAngelo, a graduate of Miami University, brought career education to Badin, and in that capacity was technically employed through the Hamilton City Schools, officials said.
But, they said, “he was a difference-maker at Badin – teaching a full course load, leading marketing education trips to Chicago and New York City each year, and co-moderating, with longtime teaching partner Tim McCabe, the popular DECA program that fostered student competitions in business, communications and public relations.”
Dan Cox, a longtime freshman football coach at Badin, died suddenly of a heart attack while exercising at his home on Feb. 3. Cox was 57.
Three days later, former Badin Principal Margaret Winkeljohn Hickle passed away at a retirement home in Findlay, Ohio, where she had attended high school in her youth. She was 77.
Teresa Heinrich, Badin’s chemistry teacher and former dean of academics who worked with DeAngelo for nearly four decades, described her former colleague as sincerely dedicated to the school he loved.
“His defining characteristic was his passion,” said Heinrich. “He had a passion for the school, a passion for his program and a passion for the students.”
“He was very good at seeing the student for the person they were and not just as a student,” Heinrich said. “He saw the potential they had. He couldn’t retire. He loved being with the students too much.”
DeAngelo is survived by his wife, Kathy, and their son, Joey. Services are pending through Brown Dawson Funeral Home in Hamilton.
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