Rumson resident, father, basketball coach, volunteer and doctor, Edwin Michael Gangemi, passed away peacefully after a brief illness, surrounded by his physician and nursing friends at Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville, on March 1. He was 60.
After several years living in Montclair, Ed and his wife Laura moved to Rumson, where Ed had spent summers throughout his early life. Ed treasured raising their two beloved sons, Marco and Matteo, also known as “the babies,” his family said in his obituary.
“He loved being part of his sons’ active lives whether watching their games, feeding their friends, pontoon boat rides, or finding the perfect wave for surfing.
Loved ones of Ed Gangemi in his obituary
Ed was a huge sports fan and was proud to be an RFH varsity basketball volunteer coach for a few seasons and enjoyed coaching in the Victory Park summer’s D League program … Ed loved throwing his nieces and nephews in the truck and getting a good Slurpee from the 7-Eleven. He loved swapping recipes with his sisters. He loved working his yard on the tractor. He loved boating down the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers. He loved meeting friends and players after the football and basketball games at Val’s. He loved dining under the stars at Undici after the D League games. He loved working in the neighborhood he grew up in, he loved skiing with his children and their friends. He loved his St. Bernard dogs. When he worked at the Harbor Island Spa in Long Branch, which was a health and weight loss retreat, he would sneak the old ladies hot fudge sundaes from the kitchen.
Ed was loved by so many who knew him for sense of humor, his caring nature, his generosity and his Ed-isms!
He was known to enjoy leisure time among friends and family at Surfrider Beach Club which, for him, was reminiscent of his younger days as a lifeguard and parking attendant at the Harbor Island Spa and the White Sands Beach Club in Long Branch.
He was a member of the Navesink Country Club and Chapel Beach Club and Holy Cross Church in Rumson.
He also loved traveling to the Italian island of Sardegna, visiting the Costa Smeralda some 25 times over the years. He was fluent in Spanish and spoke Italian.
Ed was proud of his family’s roots in Newark, where he was born and raised in the city’s Mount Prospect neighborhood. He attended the Prospect Hill Country Day School there and Newark Academy, Livingston. After graduating from Rutgers University, he packed his Volkswagen van and headed off to Mexico for medical school at the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara.
Upon his return, he practiced medicine in the early years of his career with his older brother, Fred, at the same Newark office in which their physician father,Frederick, practiced for decades before them.
Ed met hiswife, Laura Blake Gangemi, when they were both working at Clara Maass. They married in 1996 and continued to work together, eventually with Ed establishing a new practice, Jersey Rehab, PA. “Over the years, this practice became his true passion and he was so proud of the people he worked with who became his work family,” his family said in his obituary.
Dr. Gangemi was preceded in death by his parents, Frederick A. Gangemi, M.D., and Agnes Rocco Gangemi.
He is survived by: his loving wife and children; and his three siblings, Frederick D. Gangemi, M.D., of Highlands, NJ, Cathleen Goode (John), of Red Bank, and Judith Green (Eliot) of Stamford, CT; and his nieces and nephews, Sarahanne (Brent), Darrin, Gianna, Tyler, Jenna, Ryan, Gabriella, Anthony, Chessa and Cash.
A private funeral service is scheduled and a celebration of Ed’s life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations would be appreciated to Ed’s favorite charity, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
— Edited obituary provided by family via John E. Day Funeral Home
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