latest news from Livingston

Albert J. Nugent, age 90, died July 11, 2021, in Clearwater, Florida.

Albert was born on November 26, 1930 to Peter and Marie Nugent. He was the brother of Eugene and Edward Nugent. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1950 to 1958. Albert moved with his family to Livingston, New Jersey, in 1960.

He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Jane Sutton Nugent; his daughter; Lynne Nugent and her husband; James Sullivan; his daughter, Patricia Smith and her husband, Gary; his son, Timothy Nugent and his wife, Karen; and his four grandsons, Matthew; Andrew; Ryan Smith and his wife, Lauren Smith; and Adam Smith and his wife, Shannon.

Albert was employed as vice president of John Blondel & Son and as credit manager of Mitchell Supreme until his retirement in 1993, when he moved to Lavallette, New Jersey. He resided there until his move to Clearwater, Florida, in 2017.

Jac Bloomberg, a 50 year resident of Livingston, passed away on August 19 at the age of 72.

Born in Salem, Ohio, Jac graduated from The Ohio State University in 1971, and shortly thereafter moved to New Jersey to begin his first job at Hartz Mountain in Harrison. Within weeks of renting a room on Baldwin Terrace in Livingston, Jac met his future wife, Ellen Gayer. Shortly after being married, Jac and Ellen settled and remained in Livingston, where they raised their two daughters.

Jac worked in financial printing and marketing for much of his career at small print shops as well as at several large banks including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and Citigroup. Most recently, he owned JB Graphics Solutions, organizing printing for both large companies and local organizations and businesses.

William Squire, age 86 of Livingston, passed away on September 11, 2021, at Morristown Medical Center.

Bill was born in 1935 in New Jersey to Leon and Sarah Squire. He was the youngest of five children and grew up in the town of West New York, New Jersey where he attended Public School #5 and Memorial High School. Bill attended Newark College of Engineering, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1959.

He met his wife Norma in 1958 after returning from his service in the Army National Guard Reserves in El Paso, Texas. They dated for three years before marrying in 1961. In 1968, Bill graduated from Seton Hall Law School. Bill practiced law in the field of intellectual property until he fully retired in 2019.

On October 23, Livingston’s Diamondback Adventure Society, to support the charitable work of Livingston Philanthropies, Inc. (LPI), will embark on a 300 mile motorcycle journey to create awareness about homelessness, hunger and the lack of resources for so many families living in nearby communities. 
The club’s riding day will be dedicated to the need for food, clothing and supplies for families living below the poverty line. The club chose a ride to Valley Forge, PA to show the common needs between Washington’s army and those living in poverty right now.
To make a donation to support Diamondback’s and LPI’s efforts to eradicate hunger and homelessness in our community, please visit njhomeless.org and click on the special link, created through the work of Livingston resident and LPI volunteer, Allison Eglow, with technical support provided by Joey Flanagan. 

LET IT GO: Livingston Public Schools superintendent Matthew Block sings a schoolcentric version of “Let It Go” on the high school turf field in front of faculty before classes began last week. MCA Photo

Livingston Township’s annual September 11 Ceremony of Remembrance will be held on Saturday, September 11, at the 9/11 Living Memorial Garden located on the Livingston Oval. The program will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be held rain or shine. All are invited and encouraged to attend to honor those who lost their lives on that day 20 years ago.

The Ceremony honors the lives of the seven Livingston residents whose lives were taken in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers in 2001: Luke A. Dudek, Jeffrey Brian Gardner, Donald Thomas Jones II, Ming-Hao Liu, Joseph P. McDonald, John M. Pocher, and Kenneth Albert Zelman.

9/11 Garden and Ceremony chairwoman Bunnie Ratner reminded residents of the importance of remembering what happened that day. “While the attacks themselves occurred 20 years ago, their consequences are still felt each day,” she said.

The Livingston Public Schools Board of Education voted, four to one, to not put a resolution on the November election ballot about the size of the Board at its September 1 meeting.

The Board size vote was the primary topic at the special Livingston Board of Education meeting last Wednesday evening.

Board members had three options: to keep the number of school board members at five and not put anything on the ballot; to put a move from five to seven members on the ballot; or to put a move from five members to nine members on the ballot.

Four Board members voted to maintain the current number of school Board members. Only Vineeta Khanna, who was elected last year and publicly supported expanding the Board during her campaign, voted against that choice.

Before the vote was taken, James Calderón, who is running for a seat on the Board for the second time, stated, “It’s important… to lead by example.

The remnants of Hurricane Ida, which devastated parts of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, swept through Livingston late Wednesday, September 1, causing widespread flooding and damage. It also necessitated a dramatic rescue involving personnel from the Police Department, Fire Department, the Department of Public Works, and the East Hanover Swift Water Rescue team.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), Livingston was in a band that received up to ten inches of water in a period of six hours, the equivalent of a thousand-year storm. Chris Southworth, acting superintendent of Public Works, confirmed that the town got a total 9.56 inches of rain. “There was flooding in the usual areas,” Southworth said, “but the township infrastructure did very well, considering the amount of rain we received in such a short period of time.” As of press time on Wednesday,

Major C. Goldfinger, age 93, of Livingston, formerly of Short Hills and Boca Raton, Florida, died Tuesday, August 24. A private ceremony was held August 26.

Mr. Goldfinger was the youngest of seven children of the late Jacob and Helen Goldfinger. Born in Jersey City and raised in Newark, he graduated from Weequahic High School. Soon after he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he earned the designation of Photographer’s Mate (PH). His work included portraits, photo editing and field photography of notable luminaries, including General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Jimmy Durante.

Upon leaving the Navy, Mr. Goldfinger founded and operated Goldfinger’s, a New Jersey children’s department store on Ferry Street in Newark’s Ironbound district. He held this position for more than 50 years until his retirement in 2000.

CONCORD DRIVE WATER MAIN WORK: On Friday, September 3, two days after the remnants of Hurricane Ida swamped Livingston, construction crews from MSP Construction Corporation were working to excavate a trench for the installation of a new replacement water main and valves on Concord Drive. The work was being done near the street intersection with Lexington Drive as part of the Township of Livingston Concord Drive Water Main improvement project. Russell Jones Photo