Christopher Colaneri, 33, grew up here

Christopher Heintz Colaneri, a member of the Ridgefield High School Class of 1986, died suddenly on Friday, Oct. 11, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he lived. He was 33.
Born on Oct. 20, 1968, Mr. Colaneri grew up in Ridgefield and graduated from Ridgefield High School in 1986. He received his bachelor of arts from St. Lawrence University in 1990 and went on to receive a J.D. from New York Law School in 1994.
He was a member of both the New York and Connecticut Bar associations, admitted in 1995 and 1998 respectively.
Mr. Colaneri coupled his legal skills with a mind set to observe the nuances of human nature and found that he had a talent for helping people overcome unfortunate circumstances. He had spent the last few years volunteering at various law clinics in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
A lover of words and travel, Mr. Colaneri spent his free time reading fiction and exploring foreign landscapes. Of special interest to him were the stories written about places and the people within them. “He hoped one day to write of his own travels and his own experiences and also to chronicle the legacy of his family, which he loved with famous zeal,” his family said.
Mr. Colaneri is survived by his parents, Joseph Edward Colaneri Jr. and Amanda Heintz Colaneri of Ridgefield; his paternal grandmother, Emelia M. Colaneri of Port Chester, N.Y.; his maternal grandfather, Dr. Herbert W. Heintz of Clinton, N.Y.; his brother, Joseph Edward Colaneri III of Bridgeport; two sisters, Nicole Dowling Twomey and her husband Christopher Burke Twomey and their two children, Annabella Dowling Twomey and Eliza Goodwin Twomey of Beverly Farms, Mass., and Marisa Clemens Colaneri of New York, N.Y.
Friends will be received at the Kane Funeral Home on Thursday, Oct. 17, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Services will be held at St. Mary’s Church on Friday, Oct. 18, at 10:30 a.m.