Elizabeth "Lizzie" Valverde

Elizabeth Ann “Lizzie” Valverde VanGinneken (nee Delgado), also known as the poet and author Elizabeth Estella, of Paterson, NJ, passed on Thursday, May 16, 2024 at the age of 44. Lizzie died peacefully in her  home in Paterson, surrounded by loving family.

Lizzie’s life began in Miami, Florida and Pearl River, NY before moving to Hillsdale, NJ.  In 2017, she settled into her dream home in Paterson, where she became a beloved fixture of the community. Included among Lizzie’s many accomplishments are her graduating with honors from Columbia University in 2015, receiving a master’s degree in creative writing from New York University in 2018, the publication of her writing in numerous  journals, her roles as a professor and teacher of writing at NYU, Passaic County Community College, as well  as in hospitals and prisons. In 2021 she was named Poet Laureate of Paterson, NJ. Regardless of the many  accolades, what Lizzie was most proud of in her life was her daughter Stella, who was born in 2008. 

Lizzie is survived by her adoring husband Damen VanGinneken; beloved daughter Estella Joelie and her father Joel Valverde; mother Ellen Delgado; sister Amanda Delgado, her husband James Gerbig and their son Logan; and her devoted Scottish fold, Marcel. She is also survived by her mother in law, Debra VanGinneken;

sister in law, Dana Tinajero and her husband, Omar; her half sister Katy Olson; and many beloved family members and friends. She was preceded in death by her father, Edward Delgado and also her birth mother  Leslie Parker.

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Our family has received an overwhelming outpouring of love, which says everything you need to know about Lizzie. We are grieving at the moment and do not have a specific charity or In-lieu-of to spread resources to. If you cannot hold that love in before Thursday’s services, we kindly ask that you designate something you love as your Lizzie item. A rock, a plant, a ball of lint, just make it your Lizzie item and carry it in your heart… 

“The weight of the world is love.” -

Allen Ginsberg

“The Post said she ran with the heart of a locomotive on champagne glass ankles and I’d like

to be remembered that way” - Elizabeth Estella, from her poem Eight Belles