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October 1, 2012
Services
Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, October 4, 2012 from 4-8 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne. Funeral services will be held 10 AM on Friday, October 5, 2012 at the funeral home. Entombment will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover.
John A. Forlenza age 84 of Wayne, formerly of Clifton, passed peacefully with the comfort of family by his side, on Monday, October 1, 2012.
He was born and raised in Kearny having graduated from Kearny High School with the Class of 1946. He attended Farleigh Dickinson University.
He was a US Army Veteran of World War II having received the World War II Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation-Japan Medal.
He lived in Clifton from 1956-1993, where he was an active member of Saint Claire’s RC Church, before moving to Wayne nineteen years ago.
He was the President-CEO and co-founder of Einhorn & Forlenza Insurance Co. in Clifton before retiring in 1995. His first job ever was pumping gas on Kearney Ave in Kearney. Soon after he secured employment at a New York City insurance company where he met a beautiful girl, Dorothy Farrell, in the elevator. Their first date was to a restaurant at the South Street Seaport in New York. Once they were engaged they took Dorothy’s mother to a bench on Coney Island to explain that John was Italian and not Irish and that he was not Catholic but Protestant. Nobody knows why they took her to Coney Island but the term “running room” did enter the conversation. They married at Saint Theresa’s RC Church in Brooklyn on February 3, 1951 and honeymooned at Niagara Falls New York. They had a loving and caring marriage of forty-two years before Dorothy’s passing in 1993.
John was a very civic minded person and was a member of the Clifton Elks Lodge, founder and past president of the Clifton Girls Club, past president of the Clifton Lions Club, past president of the Delawanna Little League. John was one of the principals involved in the merging of the Clifton Girls Club into the Clifton Boys and Girls Club. He also unsuccessfully ran for Councilman in Clifton two different times.
He was a member of the Forrest Hills Field Club in Bloomfield for many years.
John’s Insurance Agency’s first location was on Ellison Street in Paterson. He used to get his shoes shined by a blind boy and John’s civic minded heart kicked in. He got the boy to a doctor and eventually paid for an operation to give him sight. John felt this was a significant reason that during the Paterson riots his store remained untouched.
John’s personality was larger than life he was the kind of guy that once you met you would never forget him. He was a classy guy who would do anything to help you. He loved kids and was gifted with the ability to recall the perfect one-liner for any situation.
He was the loving husband of the late Dorothy (nee Farrell) Forlenza (1993); devoted father of Jay Forlenza and his wife Barbara of Wayne, and Rick Forlenza of Wayne and his late wife Marcia (nee Handzo) Forlenza (2009), and Cindy Machovsky and her husband Jimmy of Wayne; cherished grandfather of John, Deana, Nicole, Jessica, Jimmy, Jennifer, and Ryan.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Boys and Girls Club of Clifton, 181 Colfax Ave., Clifton, NJ 07013 would be appreciated
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, October 4, 2012 from 4-8 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne. Funeral services will be held 10 AM on Friday, October 5, 2012 at the funeral home. Entombment will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover.
October 1, 2012
Services
Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, October 4, 2012 from 4-8 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne. Funeral services will be held 10 AM on Friday, October 5, 2012 at the funeral home. Entombment will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover.
John A. Forlenza age 84 of Wayne, formerly of Clifton, passed peacefully with the comfort of family by his side, on Monday, October 1, 2012.
He was born and raised in Kearny having graduated from Kearny High School with the Class of 1946. He attended Farleigh Dickinson University.
He was a US Army Veteran of World War II having received the World War II Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation-Japan Medal.
He lived in Clifton from 1956-1993, where he was an active member of Saint Claire’s RC Church, before moving to Wayne nineteen years ago.
He was the President-CEO and co-founder of Einhorn & Forlenza Insurance Co. in Clifton before retiring in 1995. His first job ever was pumping gas on Kearney Ave in Kearney. Soon after he secured employment at a New York City insurance company where he met a beautiful girl, Dorothy Farrell, in the elevator. Their first date was to a restaurant at the South Street Seaport in New York. Once they were engaged they took Dorothy’s mother to a bench on Coney Island to explain that John was Italian and not Irish and that he was not Catholic but Protestant. Nobody knows why they took her to Coney Island but the term “running room” did enter the conversation. They married at Saint Theresa’s RC Church in Brooklyn on February 3, 1951 and honeymooned at Niagara Falls New York. They had a loving and caring marriage of forty-two years before Dorothy’s passing in 1993.
John was a very civic minded person and was a member of the Clifton Elks Lodge, founder and past president of the Clifton Girls Club, past president of the Clifton Lions Club, past president of the Delawanna Little League. John was one of the principals involved in the merging of the Clifton Girls Club into the Clifton Boys and Girls Club. He also unsuccessfully ran for Councilman in Clifton two different times.
He was a member of the Forrest Hills Field Club in Bloomfield for many years.
John’s Insurance Agency’s first location was on Ellison Street in Paterson. He used to get his shoes shined by a blind boy and John’s civic minded heart kicked in. He got the boy to a doctor and eventually paid for an operation to give him sight. John felt this was a significant reason that during the Paterson riots his store remained untouched.
John’s personality was larger than life he was the kind of guy that once you met you would never forget him. He was a classy guy who would do anything to help you. He loved kids and was gifted with the ability to recall the perfect one-liner for any situation.
He was the loving husband of the late Dorothy (nee Farrell) Forlenza (1993); devoted father of Jay Forlenza and his wife Barbara of Wayne, and Rick Forlenza of Wayne and his late wife Marcia (nee Handzo) Forlenza (2009), and Cindy Machovsky and her husband Jimmy of Wayne; cherished grandfather of John, Deana, Nicole, Jessica, Jimmy, Jennifer, and Ryan.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Boys and Girls Club of Clifton, 181 Colfax Ave., Clifton, NJ 07013 would be appreciated
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