James V. Palumbo Sr.

(Asbury Park Press)

LT. COLONEL AGC USAR (RET) JAMES V. PALUMBO SR.
AGE: 92 FORMERLY OF MONMOUTH BEACH
Lt. Colonel AGC USAR (RET) James V. Palumbo Sr., 92, formerly of Monmouth Beach, died peacefully Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010, at home. He was a Civil Service employee for 37 years and served 30 years active and reserve duty in the U.S. Army and Headquarters, 50th Armored Division, N.J. National Guard. He retired in 1976. Government positions included Training Officer, VA, and several management positions including Chief of Data Processing, First U.S. Army, and nine years at Fort Monmouth as Chief of Management Office DMIS, responsible for systems programming and operations. He was a pioneer in the field of data processing for business applications. Jim was born in Newark, lived in Union, moved to Monmouth Beach in 1957, Brick in 1986, and spent the last four years in Seabrook Village, Tinton Falls. He was a member of the U.S. Army Retired Reserves and a communicant of the Church of the Visitation, Brick. His community activities include nine years as chairman of the Monmouth Beach Shade Tree Commission and their Recreation Commission, where he initiated and developed the town's recreation programs and their tennis, baseball, and basketball facilities. He will be remembered as a devoted husband, a wonderful father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend. He will be sorely missed. Always ready with a joke or a quickly sketched cartoon, he thoroughly enjoyed retirement - playing tennis well into his senior years. He most enjoyed spending time with his extended family and large circle of friends. He was recognized for his sense of humor, his generosity, and devotion to his faith.
Jim was predeceased by his parents, Frank and Jennie Palumbo; sisters, Florence Zinno and Ida Ferrer; and a brother, Gabriel Palumbo. His wife of 37 years, Anna Lee Mason Palumbo, died in 1981; their son, Gary Lee Palumbo, died in 1987; and Jim's second wife of 14 years, Alice May Grogan Palumbo, passed in 1998. Surviving to cherish his memory are his wife of 10 years, Rachel Bollinger Palumbo; a son and daughter-in-law, James V. Jr. and Deborah Palumbo of Monmouth Beach; a daughter and son-in-law, Donna Lynn Palumbo and Donald Antisell of Eatontown; daughter-in-law, Jane Armstrong, her husband Bill, and their children, Knute, Angus, and Jasmine of Albany, N.Y.; five stepchildren, Cindy Grogan of Woodcliff Lake, Leslie Grogan and her partner, Aaron Glasser of Miami, Fla., Linda Paulsen of Minneapolis, Minn., Dr. Barbara Bollinger Alcalay and her husband Henry of New York City, and Jeffrey Bollinger of Inverness, Fla.; two granddaughters, Kristen Lee and Jamie Robin Palumbo; four step grandchildren, Eric, Carl, Erik, and Frederica; and a step great- granddaughter, Ella.
The family extends a sincere thank you to the Saint Barnabas Hospice and Palliative Care Center and a special thanks to Drs. Debra Ray, Ronald Weinberg and Jeffrey Osofsky. All were so wonderful to Jim.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7 at the Damiano Funeral Home, 191 Franklin Ave. (corner of Third Ave.), Long Branch. The funeral will begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 8 at the funeral home, with an 11 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial celebrated at St. Dorothea's Church, Eatontown. Interment will be held privately at Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Arneytown. In lieu of flowers, donations in Jim's memory may be made to the Gary L. Palumbo Scholarship Fund, Montclair State University Foundation, Inc., 1 Normal Ave., Upper Montclair, NJ 07043 (Attn: Ana M. Gomez, checks must be made payable to the MSU Foundation), or the Monmouth Beach Recreation Commission, 22 Beach Road, Monmouth Beach, NJ 07750 (payable to the Borough of Monmouth Beach). The family invites you to leave an online condolence at www.damianofuneralhome.com