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I have current information for names in bold face; if connected to a hyperlink, it will either open a mail dialog, connect to a personal web site, or connect to a web page with information about that person. Feel free to contact me for further information or to pass along a note to those who aren't linked. Not everyone on my address list is mentioned on this page; those names are found on specific pages. |
Anthony Francis Vitale
I
was born on 28 April 1953 in Newark NJ, the week of the accession of Queen
Elizabeth II to the throne of England. My parents, Mario Anthony
Vitale and Emily Ruggeiro Sorvillo (that is my mother on the
right), are first generation Italian-Americans; all four grandparents (now
deceased) were born in Italy but spent their adult lives in Newark NJ where
they raised my parents.
Spent
first year or so of life on Munn Avenue, Irvington NJ in a three-family
house with my mother’s two sisters (Anna and Theresa) occupying the other
units with their husbands and one single child each; that is my aunts Annie
and Tessie on the left.
Then moved to 626 Buchanan Street, Hillside NJ where my brother Mario Anthony, Jr. (he was never referred to as Junior) was born on 10 January 1957.
The
family moved to 5 Penn Road, Cranford NJ in 1961. On the right are
my parents, looking particularly (and perhaps peculiarly) happy in the
backyard.
I am going to take a moment to write that my brother passed away on 11 February 2001 as the result of a car accident. He had been ill and it could conceivably been a blessing that his life was not prolonged by a lengthy hospital stay.
Nonetheless, he was a kind man and much
beloved by his family and friends. You can read more about him on
the February
2001 page.
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My father’s father (Alphonso) died the year before I was born, as did my mother’s sister Jean. Both my father’s mother (Alberta) and my mother’s father passed away within a year of each other around 1963. My grandmother lived until she was 97 years old, passing peacefully in a nursing home on January 21, 1991. Relatives on this list include my mother's Aunt Virginia's daughter, Lorraine Dizzia; back when I was a teen-ager, she worked for Vogue in New York City and was the first person to introduce me to the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney and the Guggenheim. She now lives in Cranford NJ with her husband; her daughter Maria is an aspiring actress in San Diego and Gina is at law school at Duke.
When we were very young, both families took a cross-continental trip to California in 1962. You can see the lovely capri pants that Carol is wearing. You cannot see the sugar dispenser that my Aunt has stolen!
Rounding out the cousins were my mother's sister's Tessies son, Artie Bruschetti (you may remember Bryan and I attending his daughter's wedding a few years ago) and Marty, who passed away a few years ago (he was the son of my mother's sister Jean, who died just months before I was born); both were single progeny. There were also the second cousins including Lorraine (mentioned above) and 'Butchie' ... oh, I mean Andrew ... oh, I'll be nice ... Andy Ruggiero lives with his wife Colleen in NJ. |
Back
to the past, I was raised in the Roman Catholic faith at Christ the King
in Hillside and St. Michael’s,
Cranford. Confirmed in 1966; many thought I’d become a priest and
indeed spent much (g-rated) time in company of priests, particularly Father
Robert Duffy (who later left the church).
That is the family picture for Christmas 1966.
Attended grammer school at Calvin Coolidge School in Hillside and Brookside School in Cranford followed by Orange Avenue Junior High School from September 1967 to June 1969. My entrance there was delayed because of appendicitis when I was 13.
For
my last two years of high school I attended Montclair Academy, an
all boys prep school now combined with its sister school as Montclair
Kimberley Academy, Montclair NJ.
Spent junior year in high school living upstairs from my father’s best friend, Paul Ottone, and his family; lived back home for senior year as I was old enough to drive and my father re-purchased a 1964 Cadillac Sedan de Ville from Paul that Dad had previously owned.
For
many years I rated these two years as among the happiest in my life; it
was a small school of barely sixty graduates in our class but we were a
tight group.
Names that have gone on to some prominence (good and bad) are Michael Wolff and financier Robert Vesco’s son, Danny.
People on the address list from that
era include John Guttmann and Bruce Downsbrough.
| Let's
start over at the home page
I'm ready to go to Tufts with Tony Radio Days + Club Land The Bad Days + WFNX Comedy + Laguna Beach Moving Back East + Meeting Bryan |
Who
am I? In the next few pages, I hope to put some type of time-line
on my life. Also, I will call attention to many of the names on my
address list. Since this web site has done so much to re-acquaint
me with old friends, it is my hope that it will accomplish the same thing
for others. You will also find that it will change over time as I
add new details as I learn of them.
Much
of my formative years were spent in the company of my cousins as most of
our families were small, consisting of one to three children. I have
also been much closer to my mother's side of the family; her parents,
Louis
and Rose Sorvillo, spent their adult lives in Newark NJ. That
is the loving couple pictured.
The
second person to take over NYC duties was my cousin 
The
cousin most in charge of dancing was