Stephen Sohmer

Stephen M. Sohmer, age 50, of Wayne, passed away on Thursday, August 20, 2020.

Stephen was born in Jersey City, the firstborn of Mark and Carole Sohmer. He was raised in North Bergen and later moved to Pine Brook. After graduating from Montville High School with the class of 1988, Stephen attended college at Binghamton University, where he earned an honors degree and gained admission into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa academic excellence society. His original desire was to have a career as a certified public accountant but while at Binghamton University, he had a change of heart and pursued a degree in law instead. From there he attended the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan where, in 1995, he earned his Juris Doctorate degree – again with honors.

After starting his career to gain experience with various law firms, Stephen opened his own practice – Sohmer Law Firm in Fairfield. He practiced law for several years. Then that original desire to be an accountant led him to open his own accounting firm – Freedom Tax and Payroll Services LLC, in Bloomfield. Stephen had been running the service for the past ten years and in the last two years he had been running a concurrent venture called Prime Refunds. Clearly, Stephen was an ambitious man who pursued everything with integrity and hard work. He was also a very family oriented individual and would be the first to give credit for his success to family members such as his niece Carla Pardo, his sister Samantha Sohmer, and his three sons Jeremy, Tyler, and Kyle, who at one time or another all were helping or had helped him in his business.

Stephen met his beloved wife Alicia “Alice” Miclat while representing a client in a real-estate deal where Alice was selling her home. They truly felt a connection and fell in love. They married in one of Stephen’s favorite places – Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, January 23, 2007 in a little chapel. They moved to Wayne where Stephen had been living to the present. Stephen loved Alice’s three sons like they were his own and did his best to help her give them a great childhood while also guiding them along life’s path and instilling the best of values in them.

Stephen had an endless hunger for knowledge. While his humble nature would never allow him to admit it, he was very intelligent and was in a seemingly constant pursuit to learn new things. He had recently taken some woodworking classes in upstate New York and an end table in his living room and a book shelf were some of the things he built with this newfound knowledge. YouTube was one of his favorite places to learn and it was a place where he turned to get better at one of his favorite pastimes – cooking. He would watch famous chefs on YouTube and try to incorporate the cooking tips he learned into his own work in the kitchen. Dinner time was always exciting at the Sohmer home as Stephen cooked American style while Alice prepared meals more in keeping with her Filipino roots. A real “foodie”, Stephen’s favorite food was steak and his favorite place to go for a nice juicy steak was Arthur’s Tavern in Morris Plains.

Stephen loved going to the movies. It had been a long-standing tradition on his birthday to go out to dinner with his family and to follow it up with a night at the movies, usually to see a Marvel adventure. As mentioned, Stephen was very impressed with and drawn to Las Vegas. It’s not that he was really much of a gambler, he just found the lights and glitter, and also the great entertainment to be so exciting. As an accountant, he couldn’t have been more pleased that, for many years, the annual tax convention was held in Las Vegas. Even when that stopped, he and Alice still made regular trips to the “neon capital of the world”.

Closer to home, Stephen had a great love of reading – especially mystery novels. He loved doing things with Alice and the boys too. They would sometimes go out to the shooting range in Bellville called the Bullet Hole. With his heart of gold and a large generous spirit, he loved to throw big summer parties at his home in Wayne where you could always count on hearing one of his corny jokes.

Stephen was always eager to give of his time, talents and treasure. If you were in need, he’d be there for you and he was the “go-to” guy for many who needed a bit of advice. Stephen felt so blessed and his desire to give back to his community led him to volunteer at Habitat for Humanity in Randolph and to give to many worthy causes including the local ambulance corps and volunteer fire department.

There is great sadness in Stephen’s untimely passing from this life and, while his family grieves his loss, they are so grateful for the time he was here to bless and touch their lives.

Stephen was the beloved and devoted husband of Alicia “Alice” (nee Miclat), blessed in marriage for thirteen-and-a-half years. He was the loving father of Jeremy Ereno of Lodi, Tyler Ereno of Carlstadt, and Kyle Ereno of Wayne; much-loved brother of: Lisa Siperstein and husband Jeff of Lake Worth, FL, Samantha Sohmer of Parsippany, and Nicole Capuano and husband Dominick of Paramus; and dear uncle of: Matthew Siperstein, Kayla Siperstein, and Giovanni Capuano. Stephen was predeceased by his wonderful parents: Mark and Carole Sohmer.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Stephen’s name are asked to consider:

American Diabetes Association          

P.O. Box 15829

Arlington, VA 22215

Please make your check out to American Diabetes Association and click on the following link to print the form to send with your donation:   https://www.diabetes.org/donate/by-mail

If you would like to make a donation online click on this link:  https://www.diabetes.org/donate