IRVINGTON, NJ — Jean Lamothe, a 2014 mayoral candidate, local Haitian community leader and longtime Irvington Building Department municipal employee died unexpectedly Saturday, March 19.
His funeral will be Saturday, April 2, at 9 a.m. at Eglise Baptiste de la Nouvelle Jerusalem church on Nye Avenue, with a viewing scheduled for Friday, April 1, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Irvington High School Gymnasium.
The reaction around Irvington to news of Lamothe’s death was swift.
“I can’t believe he’s gone,” said Destin Nicholas, a former at large municipal candidate, Saturday, March 19. “He was my friend and such a good guy. He did a lot for the Haitian community and he helped a lot of people when they needed it. He’s going to be missed.”
Municipal Council President Charnette Frederic, the first Haitian-American elected official to hold a seat on the town’s governing body; she ran for her seat on Mayor Tony Vauss’ Team Irvington Strong slate, which defeated Lamothe in 2014. And while Frederic has become the elected face of Irvington’s Haitian community, she said Lamothe was the unofficial Haitian mayor for years.
“I was shocked when I heard the news on Saturday,” said Frederic on Monday, March 21. “My heart and prayers go out to Jean Lamothe’s wife, family, friends and the township of Irvington. The Haitian-American community lost a great soul. May he rest in peace.”
Frederic said she, Nicholas and other members of Irvington’s tightly knit Haitian community “are working together to assist the family in any way possible, as we remember Jean Lamothe’s life.”
Thecy Faustin is a well-known pioneer, when it comes to empowering the local Haitian community politically, socially and economically, through the FamiCare nonprofit service organization she founded that operates both in the United States and in Haiti. Faustin said she was on vacation in Haiti when Lamothe died and learned about his death Saturday, March 26, and is still in a state of shock.
“Jean Lamothe served his community well and I do hope his legacy continues. May he rest in peace,” said Faustin on Saturday, March 26.
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