Sheila M. Perruzzi

Sheila M. Perruzzi, 79, of Short Hills, NJ, died peacefully on May 18, 2017, surrounded by her family. Together, mom and her devoted husband of 51 years, Charlie, raised us, her three sons in Maplewood, NJ before moving to Short Hills in 2000.
Born on April 19, 1938 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan, mom grew up in Greenwich Village. As a girl she attended Dominican Academy and later received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959 from Marymount College in Tarrytown, NY. After college, mom began her lifelong commitment to education as a teacher in the New York City public schools. This is also where she honed her mothering skills. She left her career as an educator when she had children of her own but remained committed to the local board of education and PTA and volunteered her time as a catechism instructor.
She also loved the arts, frequenting museums, Broadway shows and the New York City Ballet, which she and Charlie attended as season ticket holders beginning in 1963. In recent years, mom and dad took advantage of retirement and in pursuit of their passion for culture and knowledge traveled the world, visiting China, France, the Caribbean, Alaska, Thailand, Russia, Turkey and the Panama Canal.
She was fiercely devoted to her children and later grandchildren. Even after she returned to the workforce when we were all in school full time she made sure that her work schedule allowed her to be there before we returned home each day.
We will remember her as a strong woman with a consistent moral compass who worked tirelessly to instill in us a culture of respect for others and for doing the right thing at all times. Mom also understood the importance of service, and happily donated her spare time to various causes, including serving as a Eucharistic minister at Our Lady of Sorrows parish in South Orange, volunteering at St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston and dedicating countless hours over the last 35years to the Columbia High School Scholarship Fund, which she joined in 1982.
Mom also found a special pleasure in being a wonderful “Mimi” to her six grandchildren, helping to shape the characters of the next generation of Peruzzi’s. Her sons delighted to bear witness as she imparted her boundless wisdom to her descendants, teaching them the same lessons of respect, integrity and fair play with which she blessed her own children.
Donations in Sheila’s memory may be made to the Columbia High School Scholarship Fund PO Box 315, Maplewood, NJ 07040 or
www.CHSSF.org
Arrangewww.CHSSF.org.ments under the direction of Paul Ippolito Summit Memorial. For more information or to send condolences please visit  www.ippolitofuneralhomes.com