Vincent F. DiFazio

Sportive Personality

Sprinkled among the dark suits and dresses at a memorial Mass for Vinny DiFazio in September were a number of boys wearing baseball uniforms. Mr. DiFazio coached baseball, as well as soccer and basketball, depending on what his three children — Joey, 15; Gina, 11; and Dana, 9 — were playing.

"When he wasn't going to a game or home watching a game he was coaching a game," said his wife, Pattie.

The couple met 23 years ago at Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, in Glassboro, N.J. He was a business major who was not quite sure what he wanted to do after graduation, Mrs. DiFazio recalled. But after working briefly as a salesman, and with some encouragement from a good friend from high school, Ken Barrett, Mr. DiFazio got a job on Wall Street.

"You have to be competitive, you have to be able to talk to people," Mrs. DiFazio recalls Mr. Barrett's telling her husband. "You would make the perfect broker."

Although the job was hectic and involved long hours, Mr. DiFazio, 43, appreciated the security that his job as a government bonds broker with Cantor Fitzgerald provided. But it was probably not his dream job. "My brother would have been a lot happier working 9 to 5," said his brother, Sal, "and coaching a different sport every night."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on July 14, 2002.


Vincent Di Fazio Jr., 43, respected coach

Even at the early age of 5, Vincent F. Di Fazio Jr. was a character. Striving to emulate his older brother, a huge baseball fan, he dressed up as his brother's team mascot and marched at the front of the Little League parade in his hometown of Massapequa, N.Y.

"Vinny could bring a smile to anyone's face," said his mother, Frances Di Fazio of Clinton. "He saw the humor in everything and everybody."

And that is why, tragically, Frances Di Fazio thought her son was "joking around again" on Sept. 11,when he called her from his office at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center at 8:55 a.m. and said: "We've been bombed again. I'm going to try to get out, like last time."

Mr. Di Fazio, 43, of Union Township, was trying to reach his wife, Pattie, who was driving the couple's children, Joseph, 14, Gina, 10, and Dana 8, to school, said his mother.

"He lived for his wife and his children," Frances Di Fazio said. A close second, she added, was her son's love for baseball, and particularly his love for the Yankees.

Mr. Di Fazio spent most of his formative years in Warren Township, where he was an outstanding catcher for the baseball team at Watchung Hills High School between 1972 and 1976.

Later, in Union Township, he became a popular coach, making his mark in Little League and girls soccer.

"He dreamed of sitting in Yankee Stadium one day and seeing his son play ball," said Mr. Di Fazio's mother. "My husband was a Yankee fan, too. We all loved baseball. The New York Yankees was our team. Vinny had a picture of Joe DiMaggio, who, of course, was our hero."

Mr. Di Fazio also loved music, especially jazz and the blues.

After high school, Mr. Di Fazio earned an associate degree in liberal arts from Miami-Dade Community College and then attended Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), where he met his wife. They would have celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary this October.

A memorial Mass was celebrated at Immaculate Conception Church in Annandale on Sept. 16. Though it had not been announced, more than a thousand people attended.

"He was an unforgettable character," his mother said.

In addition to his mother, wife and children, Mr. Di Fazio is survived by his two sisters, Teresa Kestenbaum of Bethlehem Township and Grace Brennan of Union Township; a brother, Salvatore of Union Township,and 12 nieces and nephews.

Donations can be made to the Di Fazio Family Fund, established by the family in his memory. Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 513, Pittstown, N.J. 08876.