Edward James DeNicola, 79, of Spring Lake, (and formerly Matawan) NJ, passed away Saturday, October 10, 2020.
Ed/Eddie was born August 17, 1941 in Brooklyn, NY to parents John Francis (Jack) and Caroline (Brandreth) DeNicola.
Ed was an extremely extraverted, spirited and confident young boy whose escapades growing up in Brooklyn are quite amusing and almost inconceivable today. For instance, scaling the underside of the Marine Parkway Bridge in Queens to fish or climbing the exterior of St. Jerome’s Church to gather fallen walnuts from the second story ledge. He had a pretty idyllic childhood from a boy’s perspective!
Ed was a bold and ambitious young man and was a ‘born’ salesman. Sales became his chosen work.
Ed married Linda (Glucksman) at the young age of 18 in 1960 and they had four children, Edward ‘Rusty,’ Kerry, David & Karen.
Ed achieved success in the commercial office supply business in NYC. As a result, he was able to purchase a house and move his wife and four children to the Stathmore neighborhood in Matawan, NJ (now Aberdeen) in 1970. There, the family flourished for many years.
Ed was the life of the party kind of guy; but life was not all laughter for him, or his family. Ed suffered from what’s known today as Bi-Polar illness with an onset at the age of about 27 (after all four of his children were already born.) For anyone familiar with this illness, it’s not an easy one. Yet, Ed did the best he could do, given the illness, as did his family.
Ed and Linda divorced after 24 years of marriage. Shortly after the divorce, at the age of 43, Ed suffered a brain stem injury (due to Encephalitis) which resulted in his losing the ability to walk and talk. While he learned to talk again, he was never able to walk again (due to Ataxia.) Ed persevered in physical therapy for many years hoping his damaged nerves would regenerate/re-route and enable him to walk again; but that was not the case. While being wheelchair bound drastically altered the course of the rest of his life, it did not stop him from living the best life he could.
Ed was a fighter! He managed to live an independent life and most importantly (to him,) he learned to drive again. His physical disability did, however, force him to retire early. To fill his time, he volunteered at the Old Bridge Senior Center for years, where he made many good friends. He also took up an old childhood hobby and built challenging remote control airplanes. He enjoyed flying them at Dorbrook Park (Colts Neck, NJ) for many years along with the many other members of the Jersey Coast Sport Flyers Club. He also enjoyed going to military and civilian airshows with his son David, son-in-law Angelo and grandson, Matteo. Some of his other passions were car shows and motor boating which he enjoyed with his sons Rusty and David. Above all, he loved being with his family. He got to see all four of his children marry and all eight of his grandchildren born. As his family all remained in Monmouth County, he got to spend the next decades enjoying quality time with all of them.
Eventually, years of heavy prescription medication resulted in Ed’s kidney failure, but even that was not the end. Ed had such a tremendous will to live that he endured over 5 years of dialysis. He was lucky to receive great care at Davita Dialysis on Bradley Avenue in Neptune, NJ. At the start of dialysis, Ed had no choice but to move to an assisted living facility; despite wanting to remain independent. The family was incredibly lucky to find Wellington Estates Assisted Living in Spring Lake, NJ. The beautiful facility, and more importantly, the loving care he received there was surely the reason he lived as long and as comfortably as he did for these last five years. Ed’s family is so grateful to the wonderful caregivers/friends at both Davita and Wellington Estates.
Ed is predeceased by his parents and his brother, John (Buddy) DeNicola. He is survived by his sister, Jacqueline DeNicola (Shortell,) his ex-wife and lifelong friend, Linda DeNicola, and his four beloved children and eight grandchildren: his two daughters and their husbands, Kerry (Angelo) Ascione of Wall Township, NJ; Karen (Christopher) Baggott of Summerville, SC;, his two sons and their wives, Edward (Marisa) DeNicola of Tinton Falls, NJ; David (Nancy) DeNicola of Colts Neck, NJ and all eight of his grandchildren: Christiania and Carolina DeNicola (Edward,) Matteo and Amelia Ascione (Kerry,) Hunter, Trevor and Justin DeNicola (David,) and Nathan Chapman (Karen.)
Ed also leaves behind many dear nieces, nephews, cousins, sisters-in-law and friends.
A memorial ‘life celebration’ will be held from 2-5pm, Saturday, October 24th at John E. Day Funeral Home located at 85 Riverside Avenue, Red Bank, NJ, 07701. Those wishing to sign Ed’s guestbook are encouraged to do so at www.johnedayfuneralhome.com
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