Jerome Pasek

Jerome Pasek, age 82 of Wayne, died peacefully on Friday, January 10, 2020.  He’s lived in Wayne since 1972.

Jerry was a guidance counselor in the Garfield public schools, retiring in 2014.  Despite being a resident of Wayne, Jerry essentially spent his entire life in Garfield.  He grew up there as a kid, and after graduating from William Paterson College, he took his first teaching job in the Garfield schools.  He ultimately enjoyed fifty-five years, his entire career, in the Garfield schools, and the vast majority of that time was as a guidance counselor at the Thomas Jefferson Middle School.  Being there for so long, he found himself counseling students who were the children of his previous students!  He loved his job, loved mentoring kids, and he had a firm appreciation for the value of academics.

On one occasion in 1969, a new music teacher, Sheila, came into his classroom to retrieve a few students for music class.  Jerry was smitten and agreed to let her take the students, but only if she would give him her phone number.  They enjoyed their first date to the Old Barge Inn and the rest is history.  They married in 1971 and after a honeymoon to Bermuda, they moved into their home in Packanack Lake in 1972.  Throughout the years, they took several cruises together and visited with Sheila’s family in Pennsylvania on many occasions.  Jerry was a devoted husband and when she was stricken with Multiple Sclerosis, he took care of her at home, doing everything he could for her.  He loved her dearly and it broke his heart when she passed in 2010.

Jerry did travel in the years since, cruising to Alaska and he visited Death Valley in California.  He was most comfortable at home though, enjoying a good meal and then settling in to watch a movie with Otis, his English bulldog.  Jerry’s three grandchildren were his pride and joy, and he truly enjoyed spending time with them.  He loved visiting Sean and Ryan in Pennsylvania, and watching Madison learn to play soccer and ride her bike.  He simply adored his grandchildren and they will all miss him dearly.

Jerry is survived by his three children; Jeffrey Pasek and his wife Bianca of Wayne, Jaqueline Pasek of Wayne, and Jennifer Hare and her husband Kevin of Collegeville, PA, his three grandchildren; Madison, Sean and Ryan.  He was predeceased by his beloved wife Sheila in 2010, and by his brother Robert in 2003.