Welcome Michael Del P. Rey, 51 ( 1955 - 2007 ) From: Long Island Newsday BY TIMOTHY ROBERTSON.timothy.robertson@newsday.com Michael Del Rey, 51, partner in security firm June 28, 2007- Michael Del Rey, a father of two and a partner in a Southampton security business, died Tuesday night in a car crash. He was 51. Del Rey, who a co-worker said was driving home from work, crashed his Chevrolet Suburban into a tree in Hampton Bays about 8 p.m. and the car caught fire, Southampton Town police said. Authorities pronounced him dead at the scene. Del Rey ran the day-to-day operations of Bellringer Communications, where he had worked for more than 20 years, said Edwin J. Thompson, president of Bellringer. "At first you thought he was a little on the gruff side," Thompson said. "But he had a heart of gold. He made the company so special." Born in Brooklyn, he was raised in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and played football for Staten Island's Susan Wagner High School. After graduating from Hunter College in Manhattan, Del Rey lived in Huntington before marrying his wife, Sally Ann Cavalier, and moving to Hampton Bays in 1993. Del Rey and Sally Ann knew each other for a long time as family friends before they married, she said. "He needed the simple things," she said yesterday. "He was very happy just to have his house, his kids and his wife." His wife called him "an avid Giants fan" who loved to golf and gamble. "Any Friday the 13th, he would go to the casino," she said, mentioning of Atlantic City and Foxwoods in Connecticut. Sally Ann Del Rey remembered her husband as a devoted father and husband. She said he coached his 8-year-old son Michael's baseball and football teams and loved to attend his 12-year-old daughter Emma's dance recitals. "He had a way with kids," his wife said, referring to her husband as strong and a "big teddy bear." His family remembered him as a warm-hearted and loyal man, but one who "would tell you how it was," his wife said. In addition to his wife and children, he is survived by his mother, Concetta Del Rey of Hampton Bays; his sisters, Lorrie Thompson of Hampton Bays, Rita Del Rey of Hampton Bays, Judie Del Rey Grimaldi of Brooklyn and Doreen Puliafico of East Brunswick, N.J.; and his brothers Bernard and Stephen, both of Staten Island. A funeral Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. June 29 in Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Southampton. Del Rey will be cremated. Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.  Click here to return to the home page.