Talk to most anyone in Rye, New York, and they will tell you city Building Inspector Vinny Tamburro was a pillar of the community, a gentle giant whom anyone could count on and a devoted family man who couldn't get enough of his wife and kids.

So large a man was Tamburro it took a major storm to deprive his family and friends of his warm smile and seemingly unending patience.

Tamburro died of a heart attack August 31 while assessing storm damage from Hurricane Irene. He was 48. Survivors include his wife of 19 years, Karen, two daughters, Taylor and Morgan, and two sons, Jake and Kyle.

"He was a really nice guy," said longtime assistant Dawn Szczerba. "A lot of what I learned I learned by watching and listening to him. If you were having a problem with someone at the counter, he would come out and save you."

Office assistant JoAnn Rispoli said Tamburro was amazing working with customers at the counter in the building department. "There was no separation," she said. "He worked with the public all the time. I have never seen anyone with such patience."

Eleanor Militana in the Rye City Manager's Office said Tamburro always went the extra mile for the public and his co-workers. "Despite frustrations from residents, he was always a gentleman," she said.

City Manager Scott Pickup said a Building Inspector's job is rife with conflict. "We were lucky that Vinny had the type of personality to handle conflict," he said. The loss is terrible for his family and for a town that lost some 200 structures to massive flooding, Pickup added.

All who worked with Tamburro said they would miss his professionalism and his consistency as a Building Inspector.

"He was committed to the codes," said longtime friend Al Vitiello, a builder who worked with Tamburro some 20 years ago in Rye. And as a volunteer firefighter in Tarrytown, New York, and later in his hometown of Suffern, New York, Tamburro held the fire codes in especially high regard, Vitiello said.

"He was very consistent with the codes, especially to the guys of the trades," Vitiello added. "He was a student of the codes. If you had a question, he would pull out the book, read you the code and then ask you, 'How do you interpret that?' Not for a final answer, just because he wanted to know what you thought."

Vitiello said it would be hard to distinguish any one project in the primarily residential City of Rye that had Tamburro's name figuratively stamped on it. "He was involved in everything," his longtime friend said.

And everything was a lot, Vitiello said. Unlike much of the country, residential construction in the affluent town of 15,000 is booming. A new assistant was supposed to start work the week following his death, Vitiello said. Until then, Tamburro had to take care of routine matters as well as storm-related inspections.

As he dealt with a move from a storm-drenched office one day in September, Rye architect Rex Gedney paused to remember his longtime friend.

"He was very consistent, and as a professional, that made him a pleasure to work with," Gedney said. "You can't always say that about building inspectors. But Vinny genuinely tried to help."

So competent and professional was Tamburro that Gedney used him as a consultant on projects outside of Rye, especially tricky rebuilds under the New York State Building Code.

Tamburro's interpretation of the codes was never anything personal, Vitiello said. "He knew the codes were all about life safety. He wasn't doing it for the builder; he was doing it for the people the builder was selling to. He wanted to make sure that family would be safe."

Family was important to Tamburro, Szczerba said. She and Rispoli said he always was going to his kids' events, whether it was baseball, football, hockey or swimming. Vitiello said he also was a coach, manager, or whatever they needed at the time.

"Family outings to sports events and family vacations were a highlight for him, and he was so proud of all their accomplishments," Militana said of Tamburro.

"His greatest passion was his family," Vitiello said, a sentiment echoed by Gedney as well. "He always made sure there was time for his family."

But Vitiello said Tamburro did enjoy getting away to play golf now and then. "He wasn't very good at it," Vitiello said chuckling. "We have an outing every year, and I would tell him, 'Why bother?' But it was important to him to spend four hours out in the country with his friends. He was a sweet man."

Vitiello said he has been dealing with guilt that many survivors have shared. He was to have lunch with Tamburro the day his friend died. But he had to cancel because he was working on an off-shore project and couldn't get away. Tamburro was supposed to bring one of his children with him to work that day, as he often did, so he could go to lunch as well.

"Thank God he didn't,” Vitiello said. "Or he would have been there when his father died."

Vitiello and others say Tamburro seemed fine in the days before his death. He was at work the previous Sunday as Hurricane Irene began pounding the Long Island Sound shores. Then he worked until about midnight that Monday, attending meetings and taking care of the routine as well.

As usual, Tamburro was wonderful with the residents as they surveyed hundreds of flood-stricken homes, said Wayne Cichon, president of the New York State Building Officials Conference. Not only was Tamburro professional—always on top of the codes—, he said, but it was clear "people really loved him."

Tuesday, August 30, was even worse, Rispoli said. Residents crashed the Building Department counter that day wanting to talk to Tamburro about whether they had to tear down or renovate. "I saw him talk to one woman for about 30 minutes, just listening to her," Rispoli said. "He just told her as soon as he had an answer, she would have one, too."

On Wednesday, August 31, Tamburro was out with police and fire officials, as well as state and federal emergency management officials assessing storm damage. Later, Rispoli and Szczerba would hear that Tamburro seemed "off his game" and brushed off chest discomfort as gas pains.

As the town still is dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, Szczerba said Tamburro's passing still doesn’t seem real. They left his voicemail message on at work so his children could still listen to it.

"His office is untouched," she added. "All the pictures are still there—like he's just been on vacation. But reality is starting to set in. It's just so sad."