Livingston New Jersey news

The Livingston Police Department and more than 20 of Essex County’s local municipalities held a “Heroes’ Salute” parade past Saint Barnabas Medical Center on Tuesday, April 14, to recognize “the incredible efforts of medical staff battling the coronavirus.” Essex County has the third highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in New Jersey.

Joined by over 50 cars, the procession displayed signs, banners, posters and flags to pay tribute to the men and women fighting COVID-19 at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. The parade included first responders and police, fire, and first aid vehicles from Livingston, West Orange, East Hanover, South Orange, North Caldwell, Caldwell, Roseland, Millburn, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Orange ECPO, Belleville, Bloomfield, East Orange, Nutley, Essex County Sherriff, Maplewood, and West Caldwell

The Livingston Public Schools will hold a public forum at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21, about the school budget for the 2020-21 academic year.

The meeting will be livestreamed on the LPS Facebook page, @livschools. Members of the public who wish to ask a question or make a comment during the meeting must email their name, address and question or comment to budgetquestions@livingston.org.

The budget, which may be read in this issue of the West Essex Tribune, was adopted on Wednesday, March 18, in order to submit it to the state for review. The total budget of $128,944,023 is within the allowable two percent cap. The tax increase on the average Livingston home, valued at $700,000, is $199.

As of Wednesday morning, April 15, the Essex County health department has reported that a total of 305 Livingston residents have tested positive for COVID-19. Thirty-four of those residents have died as a result of the virus.

A number of these cases stem from two long term care facilities in town, including at least “12 to 14” of the deaths, according to township health officer Lou Anello. COVID-19 positive patients at those facilities are now isolated from the rest of the population, aside from staff assigned to care for them, and the township is hopeful that cases out of these facilities will slow as a result.

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Livingston, along with the rest of northern New Jersey, endured a fierce rain and wind storm on Monday, April 13, that, fortunately, did relatively little damage in the township. According to the National Weather Service, the storm saw sustained winds of up to 35 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 50 miles per hour, and dumped 2.32 inches of rain on the township.

“Fortunately, this was a fairly uneventful storm,” said Mike Anello, Department of Public Works (DPW) supervisor. “There were no sustained power outages or major damage in Livingston.”

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As Livingston residents continue to grapple with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, following the guidelines of township and state officials and generally doing their best to support one another, there are, unfortunately, a few who feel compelled to bring hate into our community. Specifically, there have been some reports of hate speech and racist remarks on social media, directed prominently at our Asian community. We would be remiss to ignore this.

This should go without saying, but nobody in Livingston is to blame for our current situation. In fact, we have printed pages and pages of stories of members of this particular community doing everything they can to support our first responders, health care workers, and fellow neighbors. That they are doing this while also enduring grossly hateful, offensive, and misguided insults makes their actions all the more laudable.

Sophie Napolitano, 95, of Livingston, died on April 7.

Born and raised in Jersey City, she settled with her husband, Stephen Napolitano, in Livingston in 1981. Prior to her retirement in 1995, she worked for Continental Stock Transfer in New York. She was an active parishioner of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in Roseland.

Mrs. Napolitano was predeceased by her husband, Stephen; her brothers, Joseph and Charles Milczarski; and her sister, Theresa Kepler.

Surviving are her sons, Stephen Napolitano and his wife, Joan, and Gary Napolitano; two grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held privately under the direction of Shook-Farmer Funeral Home, Roseland. A memorial Mass will be offered at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family has suggested that donations may be made in Mrs. Napolitano’s memory to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church, 28 Livingston Avenue, Roseland, NJ 07068.

Anton van Ouwerkerk died on Wednesday, April 8, at Arden Court Memory Care Center in Whippany, at the age of 93.

He was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and married Arendina “Dini” (Ikking) in 1950. They were married for 63 years, until her death in 2014.

Mr. Ouwerkerk graduated from the Technische Hogeschool in Amsterdam with a degree in chemistry. He and his family emigrated to the United States in the 1960s and moved to Livingston. He worked in the fragrance industry, initially at Polak and Schwartz in the Netherlands and later at International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) in the U.S. He was the author of many patents related to fragrance manufacturing, and a member of the board, and later president of, the American Society of Perfumers.

The UCLA Bruins defeated the Maryland “Terps” (Terrapins) in the 11th grade Recreation Boys’ Basketball Finals Tournament to become the 2019-20 champions. Shown here, teammates included Jack Schreiber, Yonas Legesse, Thomas Gangi, Ryan Mullin, coach Rod Sanchez, Dario Sanchez, and Ryan Mullin. Also on the team was John Akulekliar.

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Anita (Arnold) Nurge, 80, formerly of Livingston, died on Good Friday, April 10.

Born in Orange, she resided in Livingston before moving to East Hanover 57 years ago. A graduate of Livingston High School, she was employed as an executive secretary for the Chubb Insurance Company in Bridgewater for 20 years prior to her retirement in 2000.

She was a parishioner of St. Ann Roman Catholic Church in Parsippany.

Mrs. Nurge is survived by her husband of 60 years, William Nurge; her two sons, William Nurge and his wife, Natalia, and Donald Nurge and his wife, Lori, all of Sun Valley, Idaho; her daughter, Dana Nurge, and her husband, Brian Cluggish, of San Diego, California; her sister-in-law, Joyce Arnold of Budd Lake; and three grandchildren. She was predeceased by her brother, Albert Arnold.

Louise Cardinale, 98, died on April 8 from complications due to COVID-19.

She was born in Newark on March 4, 1922, to Aurelio and Anna Cardinale. The family, which included her siblings Vincent and Gloria, moved to Livingston in 1965. Ms. Cardinale lived here until moving to Crane’s Mill in West Caldwell in 2014.

At age 19, she began working at Macy’s (previously Bamberger’s) in Newark. She then worked at Blue Cross-Blue Shield in Newark from 1942 until retiring in 1982.

Ms. Cardinale is survived by her nephews, grand-nieces and grandnephews, and a great-grand-nephew and great-grand-niece.

Funeral services will not be available at this time. A Memorial Mass will be planned, depending on availability, in the near future. Interment will be at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover.

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