Florence Refolo

Florence K. (Bartoldus) Refolo, 97, of Rutherford, NJ, passed away peacefully on Saturday, December 27, 2025 at her home. Florence was pre-deceased by her loving husband John, her sister Dorothy, and her daughter-in-law Cynthia. She is survived by her son Perry, her daughter Laurie and daughter Maureen with husband Jeff. Florence was a devoted grandmother to John and his wife Nicole, Alyssa and her husband Andrew, Erik and his wife Andrea, and Jarek and his partner Morgan as well as a caring great-grandmother to Elle, Wells, Amelia, Elliot, Daniela, and Erik. She enjoyed her extended family of nieces, nephews, and cousins and treated neighbors and friends as family too.

Florence lived in Rutherford for 65 years where, along with John, was active in the community. She was a parishioner of Grace Episcopal Church, supported the girls and boys scouts, and worked the concession stands for both little league baseball and football games. Florence worked at Fairleigh Dickinson University for over 30 years, first at the previous Rutherford campus and then at the Teaneck campus. She was a secretary to Fairleigh's athletic department then focused on supporting both the men and women's basketball programs. Florence loved college basketball, attending all home games and even traveled to see the teams if they made it to the dance. Of course, her lifetime highlight was watching FDU upset Purdue in 2023. When the weather got nice, Long Beach Island was Florence's second home. She'd pick up where she left off with "summer" friends, opening the house up on Memorial Day, enjoying "G+T's" on the deck, then closing out summer with Labor Day parties on the beach.

There will be no service per Florence's wishes. As an expression of sympathy, contributions in Florence's name may be made to the Rutherford High School Athletic Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 192, Rutherford, NJ 07070 (make checks payable to "RHS Hall of Fame Scholarship Fund") or to FDU athletics at https://support.fdu.edu/giving/athletics-knights/