Antonio DeCandia

Antonio “Tony” DeCandia, age 90, of Secaucus, passed peacefully on Saturday, November 16, 2024.

Antonio was born in Molfetta, Italy to Giovanni and Nicoletta DeCandia. From the age of 19 to 24 he lived and worked in Venezuela before emigrating to the United States in 1966 with his wife Maria and two sons John and Sergio on the SS Raffaello.

Antonio met his wife Maria (nee Ciccolella) when he returned to Italy from Venezuela. They married on January 24, 1959 at the San Guiseppe church in Molfetta and honeymooned in Napoli. They have had a loving and devoted marriage of sixty-five years that was blessed with four children and seven grandchildren.

The family lived in Hoboken, NJ for twelve years until they moved to Secaucus in 1978 where he lived for the past forty-six years.

Antonio worked as a cabinetmaker for the Cocheo Brothers, Inc. in Weehawken, NJ for almost thirty years before retiring in 1996. While there he made custom furniture, cabinets, and all types of woodworking for everything from high-end homes to casinos.  Once retired he enjoyed making homemade mozzarella and torrone as well as roasting chestnuts. He enjoyed playing the Italian card game Scopa, watching boxing, soccer and bus trips to Atlantic City with Maria and their friends.  He also enjoyed going to the beach at Sandy Hook, NJ, and numerous trips to his home in Molfetta, Italy. The family would often spend summers at their home in Molfetta and at the Lido Algamarina resort.  

Antonio was the beloved husband to Maria DeCandia; devoted father of the late John DeCandia (d.2020), Sergio DeCandia and his wife Mary (nee Travers) of Verona, NJ, Nicoletta Minervini and her husband Julius of Wayne, NJ, and Enza Crespo and her husband Daniel of East Rutherford, NJ; he was the cherished Nonno (grandfather) of Anthony, Dylan, and Sean DeCandia, Giovanna and Olivia Minervini, Daniel and Matthew Crespo.  Antonio was predeceased by his siblings Mauro DeCandia, Susetta Calo, Pasquale DeCandia, and Giuseppe DeCandia.

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In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the American Cancer Society.