Lawrence J. Zappulla, 88, of Roseland, NJ, formerly of Orlando, FL, and longtime resident of Glen Ridge, NJ, passed away peacefully in his sleep after a long courageous battle with dementia, to once again join, and dance with, his beloved late wife Barbara on May 18, 2025, his wife's birthday.
Visitation will be held Wednesday 5/21 (7:00 to 9:00 PM) and Thursday 5/22 (2:00 to 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM) at the Armitage & Wiggins Funeral Home, 596 Belgrove Drive, Kearny, NJ.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be officiated on Friday, May 23, 2025 at 11:00 AM at Sacred Heart Church, 76 Broad Street, Bloomfield, NJ. Entombment will immediately follow at Glendale Cemetery in Bloomfield. To send condolences, please visit www.armitagewiggins.com .
Mr. Zappulla, the son of Joseph & Josephine Zappulla, grew up in Bloomfield, NJ, where the gifted student skipped fourth grade and graduated Bloomfield High School at the age of 16. He obtained his bachelors degree from Seton Hall University, Class of '57, and soon helped form the accounting firm Lerner, Schuhalter, and Zappulla in Maplewood, NJ.
It was while working there that he met the love of his life, Barbara Mae DeLaMater, through his very good friends Joe and Kelly D'Angerio, who set them up on a blind date. The site of their first date was the Belmont Stakes, and immediately Barbara was Larry's favorite. They wed exactly one year later in 1961 and started their family in Irvington, NJ.
Family was the most important thing in Larry's life. He worked long hours, saving with the patience and discipline of an accountant, until they could afford a house in nearby Glen Ridge, NJ, the home of one of the best school systems in the state, for education was tremendously important to both of them.
Two children became four, and soon Larry's time was spent working long hours and yet always doing his best to attend his four children's many sports events. He was a fixture at the town’s baseball and softball fields, often wearing his suit after going directly from work. At his eldest son's baseball games in the spring of 1977 he befriended the father of his son's teammate and soon was working at Howard Savings Bank, where he eventually became a Senior Vice President and Comptroller. He proudly stated that there were only 50 people in the entire country who could say they "were Comptroller of the largest savings bank in their state" -- and he was one of them!
As the children went on to high school he was a familiar site down the right field line at the softball field behind Glen Ridge High School where his two girls shined as players. And he gallantly put up with that loud racket down in the basement, where his very talented younger son would bang on the drums for hours. Many fall Sundays sitting in front of the TV watching The NFL Today with his older son led to a successful career as a feature producer on that very show for the young man who watched it enthusiastically years earlier with his Dad. With Barbara, he helped them all apply to the best schools they could get into, showed pride when they won partial scholarships, and boasted when all four graduated college.
Through the years he enjoyed taking the children to both Mets and Yankees games, on trips to the circus or Globetrotters, and annual vacations down the shore to North Wildwood, NJ, the home of countless lifetime memories. "Watch the tram car, please!"
And then there were the New York Giants. Having attended the “Greatest Game Ever Played”, the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Colts and the Giants at Yankee Stadium, Larry, along with his best friends Joe and Jerry, got a GIANT bug -- and had season tickets for the next half a century! The Giants are so loved by the Zappulla clan that at least two of the family have attended every one of the five Giants Super Bowls, happily exiting the stadium with huge smiles after four of them!
One giant thing Larry and Barbara always did was spend plenty of time with extended family, Whether it was enjoying Ting-A-Ling's Italian ice with grandparents in Bloomfield, playing silly games of “Gator“ over at Aunt Linda's, or playing Yahtzee or Monopoly back in Glen Ridge, family fun was a priority. The Zappullas were known as a very close-knit family and remain so today. Aided by Barbara’s boundless love, Larry's focus on always providing for his family and doing his best to keep the gang happy, led to many great times.
He instilled a strong set of values in his children with often repeated words of wisdom, like, “If you don't want to spill soda in the living room . . . don't bring soda in the living room." The beauty of his lessons were always the simple yet universal truths he revealed. To encourage hard work and self discipline, there was “The only person you can count on is yourself.” And it was the successful banker, and investor, who constantly reminded us, “”No matter how much you make, pay yourself first.”
After the four children moved out of their Glen Ridge home, he and Barbara retired early and moved to Orlando, FL, where their annual passes to any theme park within fifty miles gave them a decade and a half of more family fun with not just their children, but eventually their grandchildren. Those days will be forever cherished, including his habit of taking four or five maps each time they went to a park they had been to dozens of times before or reading the same menus countless times to end up ordering the same item he always ate. Ha!
The worst day of Larry's life was November 14, 2013, when Barbara suffered a fatal heart attack, shocking the whole family. He wasn't sure he would survive two weeks without her. But, with the dutiful assistance of his four children, he was able to enjoy three more years in Florida before they all decided it was time for him to move back to New Jersey where he could be closer to family as he aged.
The last few years were not easy for Larry as his illness progressed, nor for his children who never let him down, doing all they could to assist him as dementia took its toll. But each and every moment they shared together was meaningful, full of hope and love and great memories, even as his capacity to remember was sadly diminishing. He will be remembered as a loving husband, wonderful father, doting grandfather, and tremendous fighter who never ever gave up against a disease which unfairly stacked the odds against him.
Larry was predeceased by his beloved wife of 52 years, Barbara. He is survived by four children, Mary, Joe, Linda, and Larry; three grandchildren, Jesse and Trevor Hayes and Sophie Mae Zappulla; his sister Arlene (Bob) Toth; his cousins, Frank (Jane) Vitale, Madlyn Granieri and Richard Vitale; his sister-in-law Linda (Tim) Weiss and nieces and nephews Roseann Yeager (the late Bob), Anthony DePalma, William (Suzanne) Heerwagen Jr., Susan Heerwagen, Jennifer (Jim) Nugent, Timothy (Jess) Weiss, Katelyn (Paul) Slivka, and Patrick (Christina) Weiss.
His family asks that all who knew him simply carry on a piece of his incredible strength and his devotion to family, hug their family members often, and . . . take the time to dance with those they love, just as he is currently dancing above with the love of his life, Barbara. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Cure Alzheimers Fund - https://curealz.org/
