LENOX — Ralph Petillo never lost his love for the spotlight — or for helping others find theirs.

Petillo, 79, an actor, theater director and educator who loved show business and inspired countless Berkshire students, died on April 23 in Newton, N.H. He had relocated there from the Berkshires with his wife, Sophie, a professional baker, in 2020 to be closer to family.

Berkshire Theatre Group Artistic Director and CEO Kate Maguire remembered Petillo as a leading actor in many of the theater's performances, and also a mentor for young people.

“We know Ralph will continue to inspire our work,” Maguire said. “No need for a spotlight for Ralph Petillo. The light and kindness in his heart brightens us all forever. May his memory be eternal.”

Between 2008 and 2019, Petillo was featured in a dozen Berkshire Theatre Group plays and musicals, often in leading roles.

Ralph Petillo co-starred in a 2011 Berkshire Theatre Group production of "The Wizard of Oz."

Travis Daly, a former associate artist and educator at Berkshire Theatre Group, had remained a close friend to Petillo and called the loss devastating for the local theater community.

“He brought so much joy, passion and love of theater to the stage, which inspired every cast and crew member,” Daly said. “Some people are so iconic that they seem like they will live forever, and I thought that about Ralph. Luckily, all the lessons and memories I have of him will live on.”

A celebration of his life will be held 10 a.m. June 6 at the St. Ann's Catholic Church parish hall, 134 Main St., Lenox. Petillo is survived by his wife and sons, Matthew and Micah.

Petillo began teaching drama and staging annual musicals at Lenox Memorial Middle and High in 2013.

In January 2016, he stepped down as executive director at the Lenox Chamber of Commerce because he was teaching four drama courses at the school and also handling Berkshire Theatre Group-related work at Reid Middle School in Pittsfield.

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"I'm overjoyed that the sun is shining on my life at this late stage," Petillo said in an Eagle interview during that time. "My theater career is rejuvenating, and the energy I get from the kids at Lenox Memorial makes me feel young again. I'm in seventh heaven. It feels wonderful to be able to create again."

Ralph Petillo during a Lenox Memorial Middle and High rehearsal of "Pippin" in 2014. Petillo began teaching drama and staging annual musicals at the school in 2013.

Among the classic musicals Petillo directed at the school's Duffin Theater were “Pippin,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” “Cabaret,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” "Shrek," "The Sound of Music," “Mamma Mia” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Musical Assistant Director Benjamin Finley recalled that "he unlocked a new love for the theater arts in me, creating dramatic lighting designs I previously never thought of. His creative genius was second to no one. Ralph changed my life with just a little bit of 'Pixie Dust' that I will carry with me forever."

Among the students inspired by Petillo was Connor McNinch, a 2016 Lenox graduate.

“He gave the theater kids and artists at the school an outlet, a space to genuinely be themselves, and that’s the most amazing and best thing any adult, especially a teacher, can give to a student,” he said.

Petillo, a Long Island, N.Y., native who grew up in New Hyde Park, earned a master's degree in orchestral conducting from Hofstra University in 1968 but pivoted to show business after winning a role in an off-Broadway revival of the musical "Dames at Sea."

He worked for the entertainment division of Walt Disney World from 1971 to 1980, where he produced and directed shows, performed, booked talent and "did a little bit of everything,” in his words. He also ran his own cabaret-style theater in Winter Park, Fla., from 1976 to 1984.

"After 15 years of steady show-biz, I was burned out," Petillo explained. He and Sophie, with their two sons, had vacationed in the Berkshires in 1984 "because she was a Norman Rockwell admirer. We went down Main Street in Stockbridge, tears ran down our faces, and I said, 'This is a place to raise my kids.'"

After moving to Stockbridge that year, Petillo set show business aside, temporarily, to become a business entrepreneur.

Sophie Petillo, had taken one of her cheesecake samples to the Red Lion Inn, where then-chef Steve Mongeon put it on the menu.

That led to “Cheesecake Charlie's," which expanded from a home-based business into a retail food emporium and restaurant in Lenox. The business relocated to Great Barrington from 1999 to 2006.

In April 2007, Petillo landed as executive director at the Lenox Chamber of Commerce.

“The town's business is tourism, so start running it as a business,” he said. “For an old show-biz guy like me, it's the perfect marriage.”

Within a year, though, Maguire, then the executive director of Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, invited him to audition for a community production of the Charles Dickens-inspired musical, "Oliver!"

He was later featured in “Annie,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Peter Pan,” “Seussical,” “The Music Man, “Tarzan” and as Fezziwig in “A Christmas Carol.” His final role, in 2019, was in “The Skin of Our Teeth.”

At a benefit event for Berkshire Theatre Group in November 2013, Petillo was honored as a role model and community theater advocate.

"Even at my age, the kids give me a new outlook, they keep me young," he said.