Elaine A. Hart

Elaine Anne Hart (née Cerullo), 91, of Park Ridge, passed away Friday, July 11th, 2025. Visiting Monday from 4 to 8 PM at Becker Funeral Home, 219 Kinderkamack Road, Westwood. Funeral service Tuesday at 10:00 AM, Our Lady of Mercy R.C. Church, 2 Freemont Avenue, Park Ridge.

Elaine grew up in North Arlington, NJ, surrounded by a close-knit family of many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. She was very active at North Arlington High School, was a member of the Journalism Club and the basketball team. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Douglass College (Rutgers University) in New Brunswick, NJ. One of her favorite stories was getting to interview Phil Rizzuto of the New York Yankees. After college she spent the summer traveling Europe with her friends.

Elaine was assistant public relations director for the American Nurses Association in New York City, and went on to become a social worker in Newark, NJ, where she touched many lives. Once divorced, she went back to work when her children were young, working many jobs. She was integral in starting the Ministry for Separated and Divorced Catholics at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Park Ridge. Throughout the years she was also active in Parents Without Partners, as well as the Society for Human Resource Management. Elaine worked for many years at the New Jersey Employment Agency, and played a huge part in working to re-employ thousands of people who were let go when the Ford Motor plant in Mahwah, NJ closed in 1980.

From there she went to work for United Artists Columbia Cablevision of New Jersey (which became Cablevision, and then Optimum). As Human Resources Supervisor, Elaine was a teacher, a mentor and a friend to many. Her children laughed when she was tasked with teaching Defensive Driving to the installation technicians.

Once retired, Elaine was an active volunteer her in her community. She was a member of the Social Justice & Peace Ministry, Women’s Cornerstone, and the Meal Outreach Ministry of OLM Church, helping to provide monthly dinner for 100+ people at the Bergen County Housing Health and Human Services Center in Hackensack. She taught English to many Korean women and children as a member of the Literacy Volunteers of America. A voracious reader, Elaine was a book club member, enjoyed monthly visits to the New York Philharmonic, her Friday night dinners at Peppercorn’s with her girlfriends, and in later years, her Stitch & Bitch group.

She was an exceptional cook, specializing in Italian food and desserts.

Elaine loved to travel, visiting Paris with the Golden Age Society of Park Ridge; exploring Mackinac Island in MI; experiencing London and the English countryside with her family; and touring Rome, Venice and Fano, Italy, where she was also able to visit her father’s home town of Castel Volturno.

But most of all, Elaine loved her children & grandchildren, her dog Magic (and her cats, most of all Smokey), and her grand-dog Stella. She lit up with joy when she saw her nine grandchildren, and loved watching them learn and grown into wonderful young adults.

Elaine is pre-deceased by her parents Ernest and Josephine (Botticelli) Cerullo, her sister Josephine (Cerullo) Pombrakas, and her beloved niece and goddaughter, Debra Biller. She is survived by her four children Tim, David (Carol), Lauren (Mark Wohl) Boyle, and Karen (Paul) Scarduffa, and her nine grandchildren Taylor (Philomena), Peter, Eliza, and Jason Hart, Jimmy, Hailey, and Kari Boyle, Gabriela and Lia Scarduffa, her niece MJ (Robert) Ryan, nephew Ed (Debra) Biller, and great-nephew Daniel Biller.