Joseph Cardillo, 89, principal in Waltham for three decades

The father of four spent more than three years as a navigator and was later a Waltham school principal for more than 30 years.

A native of Waltham, Mr. Cardillo grew up poor in the 1920s, the only son among Raffaele and Anna Cardillo’s five children.

Staying focused on studying and working - at Waltham High School, from which he graduated in 1938, and at the local Grover Cronin department store - helped him become the first in his family to attend college, relatives said.

In 1943, he graduated from the School of Education at Boston University, where he served in student government. But before he received his diploma, the Army drafted him into World War II.

He served in the Army Air Corps for the next 3 1/2 years, navigating 43 aerial attack missions from the back of B-24 bombers. In his first few months of service, he flew in one of the war’s most daring attacks, the Ploesti Mission, in which Allied planes bombed German oil refineries in Romania while under heavy fire.

Upon returning from the war, Mr. Cardillo caught the eye of a young girl in his neighborhood.

“He had just got out of the service, and I was fascinated’’ by his uniform, said Katharine [Russo] Cardillo, his wife of 62 years.

Mr. Cardillo introduced himself to his neighbor in 1946. The two wed a year later at Sacred Heart Church in Waltham.

During that time, he taught accounting at Bryant & Stratton Commercial School in Boston. After two years, he found a position at his alma mater in Waltham.

He taught business law at Waltham High for five years until he was offered an administrative position at the nearby Henry Whittemore Elementary School.

After several months as the assistant principal at Whittemore, he became the principal at the Nathaniel P. Banks School in Waltham in 1953. When his daughter, Carla, enrolled at the Banks school, Mr. Cardillo returned to Whittemore as principal.

He led the school for the next 27 years, leaving a lasting impression on nearly everyone who passed through it, colleagues said.

“He instilled in all of us that the school was not only a place where children were educated, but it was a family,’’ said Patricia Vasquezi, the school’s principal from 2005 to 2008. “He was sort of like my other father. He was eager to help you; he listened, gave you advice. He was a mentor.’’

Vasquezi met Mr. Cardillo as a fourth-grader at Whittemore, and he later hired her to teach there.

In his time at the school, he led the initiative to develop a school library, which was later named for him; organized an annual trip to Washington, D.C., for students; and started a father-son night, which drew speakers such as Paul Silas of the Boston Celtics and Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins.

In 1974, the Waltham Veterans of Foreign Wars post awarded him the Distinguished Citizen Service Award for his work in education.

Ten years later, he retired. Mr. and Mrs. Cardillo then moved to West Palm Beach, Fla. The couple spent summers in Waltham, visiting family.

In his later years, Mr. Cardillo loved to travel, vacationing in Europe and the Caribbean.

“He was an all-around great guy,’’ said his daughter, Carla Paparella, who is a teacher in Waltham. “He had a big heart and was kind to everybody. I still have people coming up and telling me that they had him as their principal. And they’re all so sad he passed. Everyone loved him.’’

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Cardillo leaves three sons, Joseph of West Palm Beach, Fla., John of Fairfax, Va., and Jaime of Bedford; two sisters, Lia Barden of New York City and Amelia Ceracola of Waltham; six grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

Services have been held.