Crecco, mourned by many, is laid to rest

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — John Crecco, the former Bloomfield mayor who died in Atlanta last week at the age of 96, was remembered during a Funeral Mass at Sacred Heart Church on Monday, April 10.

Father Michael Rodak, of the Paterson Archdiocese, in his homily called Crecco “a living tribute to his faith.”

“He loved God and his neighbor, the two greatest commandments,” Rodak said. “He found his identity through service to others.”

As a public official and head of a charitable foundation that bore his name, Rodak said Crecco was ready to get involved and was not the person to say, “Yeah, put my name on the letterhead.”

“Kindness, humility and simplicity — he wasn’t afraid to assist anyone,” Rodak said. “His love was to be mimicked; he was an example; he was Christ-like, in a very loving way.”

Rodak said people can only wish there were more like him in politics.
“John had his hand in a lot of good,” Rodak said. “And because of his faith, God was given a hand in it, too.”

Others who worked with Crecco over the years spoke highly of him as well.

In brief interviews with those who knew him — at the funeral home and later via telephone — Crecco was remembered as a loving, gentle, giving man who shied away from the limelight.

Judy and Sam Martino, whose son, Stevie, had a heart condition and was the poster boy for the Crecco Foundation, said they first met Crecco in 1967, following a benefit for their son. The Crecco Foundation is a charitable organization that donates money to assist people with heart disease.

“John was having a fundraiser and fell in love with this little, toe-headed boy,” Judy said.

She said Crecco was a person who thought outside of himself, as did her son.
“Kids with a problem have a purpose in God’s eyes,” she said. “They too think outside themselves.”

Sam remembered Crecco in another way.
“He was a very unusual, different person, he said. “You never knew what was going to happen.”

He gave an example while grinning.
“John called me at three in the morning,” he said. “He was at the Republican Convention in D.C. He told me he needed stamps. How was I going to get him stamps? I said, ‘John, how am I going to get you stamps in D.C.?’ He said, ‘OK,
see you.’”

Crecco then hung up the phone.
“He was also a genius,” Sam said. “He did any crossword puzzle in two minutes.”
John Sanders also remembered Crecco for his generosity and personal conviction to assist others.

“My best friend in life, my second father,” Sanders said. “He taught me so much about being a humanitarian. He was a totally extreme person. He never cared about himself, only others. One time, a guy was giving him a ride. He had bald tires. John told him, ‘You can’t drive like this.’ They went to a gas station he bought four new tires.”

Robert Renna, the current Bloomfield finance director, said Crecco, a Republican, was probably the most popular elected official Bloomfield ever had.

“He never took an election lightly,” Renna said. “He’d run like he was behind. He pounded the pavement from home to home. Can you imagine that, as popular as he was? Now everything is social media.”

Joseph Pisauro, the current Bloomfield tax assessor, said he knew Crecco inside and outside Town Hall.

“We both went to Sacred Heart together,” Pisauro said. “He was an usher at church for many years, at a different Mass than me. I ushered at an earlier Mass. He didn’t have a bad bone in his body.”

Even when he wasn’t mayor anymore and came into Town Hall to pay his taxes, Pisauro said Crecco would greet everyone and probably shook more hands than anyone.

“He was a person you were fortunate to meet in your life,” Pisauro said.
Louise Palagano, the current Bloomfield municipal clerk, worked and observed Crecco close-up.

“I was on the council from 1984 to 1994, the entire time he was either on the council or mayor,” she said. “At that point in time, he was Bloomfield’s humanitarian. He wanted to help everybody. I was the only woman on the council and he respected me.”

Like Renna, Palagano, a Democrat, said Crecco was a tireless campaigner.
“Both of us were known for walking door-to-door,” Palagano said. “He would always tease about wearing out his shoes. I was inspired by it. I saw how successful it was to him. I took a page out of his campaign book.”

Crecco was very generous with the time he spent helping people, she said.
“He really took to heart everyone’s situation or problem when they spoke to him at the council or on the street,” Palagano said. “He wrote it down and followed up.”
She also remembered that his birthday was June 14.

“That’s Flag Day,” she said. ‘Mine is the next day. We use to tease each other about that. That he was born on Flag Day was representative of him.”

Another former Bloomfield mayor, Raymond McCarthy, recalled Crecco as a decent human being.

“He wanted to make everyone happy, whenever I dealt with him,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy, a Democrat, said when he became mayor following Crecco who was serving an interim term, the mayor’s office was located in a different part of Town
Hall and the office was much bigger than currently.

“There wasn’t a spot on the walls where John didn’t have a photo of himself with others, like Reagan,” he said.

McCarthy said he tried to duplicate Crecco’s impressive array of photographs but just couldn’t do it.

McCarthy recollected a particular photograph.
McCarthy owned a bar in Hoboken. Chuck Wepner, a former heavyweight boxer who fought Muhammad Ali, worked for him, and Crecco was a NJ deputy boxing commissioner. McCarthy said Crecco one day gave him a photograph of Webner and Ali together and autographed by both fighters.

Another time, McCarthy said, Crecco brought the Dodger manager, Tommy Lasorda, to a Bloomfield bar to meet him. For McCarthy, who is a big a Los Angeles Dodger fan, it was one of the best days of his life.

“He knew I was a Dodger fan,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy also remembered Crecco, the elected official.
“When politics were politics, whether you’re ‘R’ or ‘D,’ he got things done,” McCarthy said. “He got people together. In a nutshell, he was a kind, caring guy.”

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