Salvatore “Sammy” Vatrano, 43, of Hingham, passed away peacefully, surrounded by the family who were the center of his world, after a courageous battle with glioblastoma.
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Clara (Calvanese) and Gregory Vatrano, Sammy was competitive from the start, an athlete, a leader, and someone who thrived when the stakes were high. He attended Cathedral High School and graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School, Class of 2002. A phenomenal hockey player, he earned a Division I scholarship to Fairfield University, where he met the love of his life Lauren (Donaldson).
After graduating from Babson College, Class of 2006, Sammy built a successful career in consulting and change management. Though he achieved professional success, titles never defined him. Husband, father, and coach were the only ones that truly mattered.
In 2010, Sammy and Lauren married and soon after began the great adventure of their life together by moving to Singapore. It was there that their young family truly began, welcoming three children and forming friendships that would become some of the deepest and most enduring of their lives. Those years were marked by hustle, laughter, and the joyful chaos that Sammy embraced so fully. In 2020, they returned home to Massachusetts and planted roots in Hingham, where Sammy threw himself into coaching, community, and family life with the same intensity he once reserved for the ice.
To know Sammy was to be challenged by him and to laugh because of it. He had a rare gift for reading a room, finding just the right button, and pressing it with a mischievous grin. With his friends, he loved to stir debate and refuse to let anyone coast. With his children, that same fire came from something deeper, a fierce belief in their strength and potential. He somehow mastered the perfect balance of being adored by all who knew him while also stirring the pot with eloquence and grace.
Sammy’s life revolved around his family. He was the husband who showed up, the father who coached from the sidelines, the brother who led by example, and the son who made his parents proud. He was adored, and he earned it.
He was a warrior in illness, just as he was in life, strong, stubborn, and unwilling to back down. Even in his hardest days, his spirit remained unmistakably Sammy.
He is survived by his beloved wife of 15 years, Lauren (Donaldson) Vatrano of Hingham; his devoted children, Sawyer, Brooks, and Hayes; his cherished parents, Clara (Calvanese) and Gregory Vatrano of Enfield, CT; his brothers Gregory and his wife Mia of East Longmeadow, MA; Michael and his wife Amber of East Longmeadow, MA; and Frank and his wife Rebecca of Costa Mesa, CA; his father-in-law Mark Donaldson of Brielle, NJ; his sister-in-law Brittany Sussan and her husband Ryan of Stamford, CT; his grandmother Giovanna Calvanese of Springfield, MA; his grandfather Salvatore Vatrano of Longmeadow, MA; his godmother Anna Almeida; his lifelong best friend and brother Thomas Costello; and many loving nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. He was predeceased by his grandparents, Umberto B.V. Calvanese and Abigail Vatrano, and his mother-in-law, Barbara Donaldson.
Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend the Funeral Mass at 10 AM on Monday, February 23, 2026, at Resurrection Parish in Hingham. For those unable to attend the Mass, please consider watching the livestream. Burial will follow at St. Paul’s Cemetery in Hingham.
To order memorial trees in memory of Salvatore “Sammy” Vatrano, please visit our tree store.