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June 4, 2018
Services
Friends may gather with the family for Memorial Visitation at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Sunday, June 10, 2018 from 2-5 PM. A Memorial Service will immediately follow visitation and begin in the funeral home at 5 PM.
Philip Brucato, age 54, of Wayne, passed away after a long illness, on Monday, June 4, 2018.
Phil was born in 1963 in the town of Garfield and grew up in Wayne. In fact, he called Wayne his hometown almost his entire life.
As a child, Phil was both an imaginative kid who could entertain himself playing in the mud, building forts or escaping to wherever his imagination took him, and he was an athletic kid who started by playing baseball for Wayne PAL where he usually played catcher and outfield. He went on to play catcher and second base for Wayne Hills High School and even later in life, he played softball in a private league. Phil’s team was sponsored by the International Food Court so that became its name. More importantly, he helped that team win the championship in 1986. He was also a very accomplished league bowler who maintained a 206 average bowling for many years at Wayne’s T-Bowl.
After graduating from Wayne Hills with the Class of 1982, Phil took a couple of jobs before enlisting full-time in the U.S. Army National Guard. While there, he served as a squad leader during basic training. Already a competitive person by nature, he came away from his time served with even more confidence and an amazement of the things he learned that he would have never thought he could have done.
In 1994 Philip fell in love and married Elva Thompson. Three years later, they welcomed their son Michael, and, in many respects, Michael became Phil’s world. He knew how to make life fun for Michael and they did all kinds of enjoyable and interesting stuff together including: going to cheer on their New York Mets at old Shea Stadium and Citi Field, heading down the Jersey shore to Point Pleasant, riding on all the attractions at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania, taking frequent visits to New York’s Museum of Natural History where Michael came to know where every exhibit was by heart, frequently catching the latest blockbuster movie, going apple picking, and most recently, taking a trip to Florida to visit Disney World and Universal Studios just this past November, 2017.
Philip was a route salesman. His career started with Maier’s Premium Italian Bread where he worked for five years before going to work for Entenmann’s Bakery for the past 24 years until sickness forced him to retire. When he came to Entenmann’s he took the Newark, NJ route because no one else wanted it. Through hard work, a strong work ethic and always giving 100 percent, Philip turned that route into gold and he provided Entenmann’s products to Newark stores for fourteen years. Outside of work, Phil kept busy too. He enjoyed going to the gym, taking walks around Packanack Lake, going to karate lessons, and participating in the Mud Run Challenge with his nephew Ralphy and other guys half his age.
For much of his life, Phil was not much of a church goer, but one Sunday he decided to go to Grace Bible Church in Pompton Plains with his sister-in-law Diane who went all the time. Soon after, he encountered a man in one of the stores on his delivery route who had a very strong faith in God. Phil and that man somehow got into a conversation about spiritual matters and the man told Phil that God had much more in store for his life than he realized. Soon after Phil started going to Jacksonville Chapel and then to Tuesday night bible study. He became very hungry for the words of the Lord as they were explained to him at church and in his holy bible. Four years ago Phil gave his life to God and he was baptized. The words of that man he met in the store on his sales route came to fruition not only in Phil’s life on earth, but more importantly, he is now enjoying eternal life with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Phil was a fun-loving guy. But more importantly, he was personable and caring and was always someone you could trust. Once he got to know you, he’d do anything for you and, in all that he did, he gave one hundred percent.
Philip is survived by his much-loved son Michael of Wayne; his brother Ralph J. and wife Diane Brucato of Wayne; dear nephew Ralph L. Brucato of West Milford; and his dear former wife Elva Brucato of Wayne. He was predeceased by his loving parents Ralph A. and Yvette Brucato.
In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Philip’s name are asked to consider Autism Society, 4340 East-West Hwy., Suite 350 Bethesda, Maryland 20814 or at autism-society.org
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may gather with the family for Memorial Visitation at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Sunday, June 10, 2018 from 2-5 PM. A Memorial Service will immediately follow visitation and begin in the funeral home at 5 PM.
June 4, 2018
Services
Friends may gather with the family for Memorial Visitation at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Sunday, June 10, 2018 from 2-5 PM. A Memorial Service will immediately follow visitation and begin in the funeral home at 5 PM.
Philip Brucato, age 54, of Wayne, passed away after a long illness, on Monday, June 4, 2018.
Phil was born in 1963 in the town of Garfield and grew up in Wayne. In fact, he called Wayne his hometown almost his entire life.
As a child, Phil was both an imaginative kid who could entertain himself playing in the mud, building forts or escaping to wherever his imagination took him, and he was an athletic kid who started by playing baseball for Wayne PAL where he usually played catcher and outfield. He went on to play catcher and second base for Wayne Hills High School and even later in life, he played softball in a private league. Phil’s team was sponsored by the International Food Court so that became its name. More importantly, he helped that team win the championship in 1986. He was also a very accomplished league bowler who maintained a 206 average bowling for many years at Wayne’s T-Bowl.
After graduating from Wayne Hills with the Class of 1982, Phil took a couple of jobs before enlisting full-time in the U.S. Army National Guard. While there, he served as a squad leader during basic training. Already a competitive person by nature, he came away from his time served with even more confidence and an amazement of the things he learned that he would have never thought he could have done.
In 1994 Philip fell in love and married Elva Thompson. Three years later, they welcomed their son Michael, and, in many respects, Michael became Phil’s world. He knew how to make life fun for Michael and they did all kinds of enjoyable and interesting stuff together including: going to cheer on their New York Mets at old Shea Stadium and Citi Field, heading down the Jersey shore to Point Pleasant, riding on all the attractions at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania, taking frequent visits to New York’s Museum of Natural History where Michael came to know where every exhibit was by heart, frequently catching the latest blockbuster movie, going apple picking, and most recently, taking a trip to Florida to visit Disney World and Universal Studios just this past November, 2017.
Philip was a route salesman. His career started with Maier’s Premium Italian Bread where he worked for five years before going to work for Entenmann’s Bakery for the past 24 years until sickness forced him to retire. When he came to Entenmann’s he took the Newark, NJ route because no one else wanted it. Through hard work, a strong work ethic and always giving 100 percent, Philip turned that route into gold and he provided Entenmann’s products to Newark stores for fourteen years. Outside of work, Phil kept busy too. He enjoyed going to the gym, taking walks around Packanack Lake, going to karate lessons, and participating in the Mud Run Challenge with his nephew Ralphy and other guys half his age.
For much of his life, Phil was not much of a church goer, but one Sunday he decided to go to Grace Bible Church in Pompton Plains with his sister-in-law Diane who went all the time. Soon after, he encountered a man in one of the stores on his delivery route who had a very strong faith in God. Phil and that man somehow got into a conversation about spiritual matters and the man told Phil that God had much more in store for his life than he realized. Soon after Phil started going to Jacksonville Chapel and then to Tuesday night bible study. He became very hungry for the words of the Lord as they were explained to him at church and in his holy bible. Four years ago Phil gave his life to God and he was baptized. The words of that man he met in the store on his sales route came to fruition not only in Phil’s life on earth, but more importantly, he is now enjoying eternal life with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Phil was a fun-loving guy. But more importantly, he was personable and caring and was always someone you could trust. Once he got to know you, he’d do anything for you and, in all that he did, he gave one hundred percent.
Philip is survived by his much-loved son Michael of Wayne; his brother Ralph J. and wife Diane Brucato of Wayne; dear nephew Ralph L. Brucato of West Milford; and his dear former wife Elva Brucato of Wayne. He was predeceased by his loving parents Ralph A. and Yvette Brucato.
In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Philip’s name are asked to consider Autism Society, 4340 East-West Hwy., Suite 350 Bethesda, Maryland 20814 or at autism-society.org
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