ESSEX COUNTY FREEHOLDERS CELEBRATE
2018 ITALIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

(Newark, NJ) – The Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders held its 2018 Italian Heritage Month Celebration on Wednesday, October 3, 2018, at the Hall of Records to commemorate Italian culture and heritage.

Freeholder President Brendan W. Gill began the program with welcoming remarks, embracing the vast diversity that exists in Essex County. Freeholder Leonard Luciano of District 4 led the program, celebrating each of the Board’s honorees, including: Joseph C. Parlavecchio of Newark, Samuel A. DeMaio of Bloomfield, Susan R. LaMorte of Belleville, and Annette Romano of Millburn.

Joseph C. Parlavecchio was born and raised in the Ironbound Section of Newark, New Jersey. He is a graduate of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Elementary School and Newark East Side High School. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from New Jersey City University, Kean University, and Seton Hall University, and he has earned Ph.D. equivalency status with the Newark Board of Education.
During his thirty-year career as an educator, he served as a teacher, Vice-Principal, Principal, an Executive Board Member, Vice-President of the City Association of Administrators and Supervisors (CASA) Local 20 AFL-CIO, an Executive Board Member and Officer of the Newark Principals’ Association. He also held membership in the Benedetto Croce Educational Society and the Essex County Council of School Administrators.

In 1978, he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. In 1981, he was elected to his first full term as an At-Large member of the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He was re-elected in 1984, 1987, 1990 and 1993 representing District I. Having served (then unprecedented) five terms, he did not seek re-election to a sixth term in 1996. During his tenure on the Board of Freeholders, he served as Vice-President from 1986-1988 and was elected President of the Board in January 1989. Highlights of his terms included: Chairman of the Budget Review Committee, Chairman of the Resource Recovery Oversight Committee, Chairman of the ECIA Oversight Committee, and Essex County’s representative on the New Jersey Association of Counties’ Board of Directors. As Freeholder President, he led the fight for the eventual state takeover of funding the court system.
Samuel A. DeMaio is the Public Safety Director for the Township of Bloomfield. He began his career in law enforcement in 1986, following in his father’s footsteps and joining the Newark Police Department (NPD). Throughout his 28-year career with NPD, he ascended through the ranks from patrolman to Police Director. He was also involved in the creation of the Essex County Major Crimes Task Force and an active participant in the FBI’s Violent Crime Task Force. In 2011, he was appointed Newark’s Police Director. That year, his efforts reduced the city’s shooting and murder rates by 15 and 18 percent respectively, while also lowering citizens’ complaints against the department.

One of his personal highlights at NPD was creating the NPD Memorial Scholarship Fund, honoring officers who gave their lives in the line of duty by creating a scholarship fund for college-bound Newark students. In 2014, he retired from the Newark Police Department and became Bloomfield’s Police Director, where he is particularly focused on enhancing the department’s efficiency and improving the quality of life in Bloomfield.

Annette Romano is a first generation Italian and lifelong resident of Millburn, where she attended the public school system and graduated from Millburn High School. She furthered her education and graduated from the American Institute of Banking, as well as the Professional School of Business where she obtained her Real Estate License. She currently works for the County of Essex, Division of Community Health Services, and Office of the Disabled and is the Human Resources Liaison in the unit.
After the 9-11 tragedy, she began volunteering with the American Red Cross and shortly thereafter became the Health & Safety Director. She helped to organize successful food drives, coat drives, and toy drives for the holidays. She founded and organized a 5K run to benefit the local American Red Cross chapter, an event which has run for the last ten years and still runs today.

Annette is very active in the community and has served diligently in the following capacities: Millburn Short Hills Democratic Committee (Chairman), Short Hills Local Advisory Commission (Member), Short Hills Senior Citizen Advisory Commission (Member), United Way of Millburn – Short Hills (Past Board Member), Essex County Senior Services Commission (Member), Neighborhood House Nursery School (Past Co-President), Wyoming School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) (Past Corresponding Secretary), and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (Past Troop Leader).

Susan R. LaMorte was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, and is a first generation Italian. She attended St. Augustine’s Grammar School, Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Newark and graduated with a degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Psychology from Kean University in Union.

In 1981, she began working with the Division of Disability Determination Services (DDS) in Newark. She has distinguished herself in the area of adjudication, claimant service and developed a harmonious relationship with the public, her co-workers, managers and the medical community. She has received many awards and citations for her outstanding professionalism and leadership in the industry over the years. In 2010, she was appointed the Assistant Director of Administration, overseeing External Contacts, Policy and Procedure, Fiscal and Budget, as well as the Accounting Unit and Disability Hearing Unit. In 2012, she received the 2011 SSA Associate Commissioner’s Group Citation in recognition of exemplary teamwork, professionalism, and service.

Susan is also very active in the community. She is currently the Executive Secretary of the Federation of Italian-American Societies of New Jersey since 1996. She is also actively involved in the Nutley-Belleville Columbus Day Parade Committee and St. Lucy’s in Newark. She was awarded the Positive Image Award in 2009 from Belleville Chapter of UNICO for her active involvement promoting Italian Heritage in the Community. In 2010, she was recognized by the Italian Tribune as Italian Women of Italian Heritage and she was named Italian Belleville Woman of the Year by the Nutley-Belleville Columbus Day Committee in 2011.

The Board of Freeholders also welcomed representatives of the 36th Annual Nutley-Belleville Columbus Day Parade and Italian Heritage Committee, Inc., and recognized the following individuals: Rev. Thomas Nicastro (Committee Member); Andre’ A. DiMino (Grand Marshal); Michael A. Maffucci (Italian Business Leader of the Year); Barbara Hirsch (Community Excellence Award); Joseph C. Palombini (Italian Heritage Award); Vito Scarpelli (Lifetime Achievement Award); Anthony T. Dalbo (Renaissance Man); Anthony M. Sessa (Belleville Man of the Year); Jeanne DiPasquale Lombardi (Belleville Woman of Year); Thomas Sposato (Nutley Man of the Year); Sandra Carella (Nutley Woman of Year).

The celebration also included welcoming remarks from Essex County Democratic Chairman LeRoy Jones, County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Sheriff Armando Fontoura and Reverend Thomas D. Nicastro, Jr., Parochial Vicar to St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Nutley, offered the opening and closing prayers. Attendees were entertained by the thrilling voice of Jerry Pearce, who favored the audience with one rendition and “The Star Spangled Banner”. A catered reception for the honorees and their guests followed the program.

Also on hand to honor all of the recipients were Freeholders At-Large Patricia Sebold, Lebby Jones, and Rufus Johnson, District 1 Freeholder Robert Mercado, District 5 Freeholder Carlos Pomares, and District 3 Freeholder Janine Bauer.