Ralph Rapuano

RALPH RAPUANO 

WESTFIELD REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER

Ralph Joseph Rapuano, age 75, passed away August 28, 2021.  Ralph was born June 16, 1946 in Guardia Sanframondi in the Province of Benevento , in the Campania region of Italy. On April 18, 1960 he immigrated to the United States with his beloved mother Emilia and brother Massimino Rapuano and joined his sister Nina Calavano (born Rapuano) and his father Alberto who had arrived earlier.  

Ralph’s passion was his work.  He began his career as a laborer and house painter but soon evolved into a skilled renovation contractor and eventually a highly successful real estate developer.  Ralph’s work can be seen throughout Westfield, New Jersey where his professional career was spent developing both residential and commercial properties in town.  Ralph’s accomplishments have forever changed the façade of Westfield, and its continued beautification was his constant and relentless desire.  For more than 60 years he sought to improve Westfield in his own way, ever mindful of its’ history and simultaneously,its’ future.  His life revolved around Westfield, and his work will be forever remembered.

Ralph was ever present in Westfield, enjoying coffee with his friends and family and spending time with his beloved Patricia.  He was devoted to the notion of family and felt a deep and continuing connection to his birth place of Guardia Sanframondiand he returned to visit many times.  He maintained loving relationships with his family in Italy and they remain close despite the distance between them.

Ralph is survived by his daughter and son, Lisa and Ralph Jr.and their spouses John and Renee; brother Massimino and sisters Nina and Pina, sister-in-law Joann Rapuano and 7 grandchildren.  He is forever loved and remembered by his life companion Patricia Kinsella and her children Dennis, Kelly and her husband John and 4 grandchildren, and many other family members and close friends.

A viewing will be held Thursday, September 2, 2021, 4:00 to 8:00 pm at the Higgins and Bonner Echo Lake Funeral Home and a Catholic Funeral Mass will be held Friday, September 3, 2021, 10:00 am at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church.

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