Alfred F. Baffa

Alfred F Baffa was a loving and devoted husband, father, son, brother, and grandfather. He is survived, and deeply missed, by his wife, Sue, his daughter and son-in-law, Adrienne and Matthew and their daughter, Aurora, his parents, Gemma and Al, and his brother, Anthony. He was born on March 5, 1957, and was called home on January 8, 2019. He never had a particularly easy life, although you would never have known it speaking with him. He found his calling in imparting his knowledge to others, and he was as happy to teach as his students were to learn from him. At 27, he was diagnosed with AML, and sent to Seattle for a bone marrow transplant (cutting edge technology for first-round remission leukemia at the time) after discovering that, miraculously, his only brother was a perfect match. After that, he always joked that he felt like a cat with nine lives, but said that he didn’t want to know which life he was on. In more serious conversations, he said that he felt he was living on borrowed time. That feeling always caused him to appreciate life to the fullest, and put his whole heart into whatever he was doing, personally or professionally. He was a survivor, but he was so much more than that to all who knew and loved him. He touched many lives, was adored by his friends, co-workers, and family, and will be missed more than words can say. The family will receive their relatives and friends at Becker Funeral Home, 219 Kinderkamack Road, Westwood, NJ on Sunday, January 13 from 1-5PM. The Funeral Mass celebrating his life and faith will be held at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel R.C. Church, Tenafly, NJ on Monday, January 14 at 1PM. We are asking that in lieu of sending flowers, donations be made in his name to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the organization that gave him his life back, and allowed him to “borrow” another 35 years to spend with those who loved him and needed him most.