Rudolph (Rudy) Schatz, 92, of Little Egg Harbor, NJ passed away on Wednesday, October 26 at Southern Ocean County Hospital Medical Center, Manahawkin, NJ surrounded by his loving family. Born in New York, NY, he grew up in Fair Lawn, NJ and lived in Westwood, NJ before moving to Little Egg Harbor, NJ 22 years ago. He worked as an electrical engineer in the Physics Department at Columbia University in New York City for 42 years. He was an Airforce Veteran of the Korean War and earned the Korean Service, U.N. Service, Good Conduct and Defense Service medals. Rudy was ahead of his time, loving any type of technology, from televisions to computers and working on his well-loved Volkswagen Beetle cars. If you had a broken TV, he could fix it. He loved to watch TV (he probably set the World Record for the number of shows in his TiVo), especially the Giants, NY Yankees, and the NY Knicks with his wife Val. He also was meticulous about taking care of his lawn and was up to speed on all the latest gadgets reading Popular Electronics and Consumer Reports. He was a great Dad, always involved in his kids sports and going to nearly all of their high school sporting events. One of his proudest achievements was helping all of his children to attend college. Besides enjoying time with his extended family some of his favorite memories were the times he and Val spent with Bud and Eleanor Scully; his neighbors on Sycamore Court (Chick and Joan Dermond and Dottie and Ed Kardell); and the new friends they became close with at Sunrise Bay (Don and Mary, Lee and John, Anita and Joe, Judy and Walter, Joe and Barbara). He is predeceased by his beloved wife of 57 years Valerie.

He is survived by children David Schatz (Lynn) of Fairlawn, NJ, Barbara Stackpole (Fred) of Rivervale, NJ, Paul Schatz (Loretta) of Waldwick, NJ and Patty McHugh (Tony) of Lebanon, NJ; brother John Schatz (Mary) of Del-Mar, California; cousin Joseph Schatz (Mary) of Acton, Massachusetts; sister-in-law Kathie Long of Barnegat and grandchildren Sara Schatz (fiancé Joe Rudy), Corinne Stackpole (fiancé Eric Darby), Kyle Stackpole (fiancé Sophie Clark), Samantha Schatz (fiancé Joe Russano), Ethan McHugh and Connor McHugh.

Viewing hours will be held on Monday, October 30 from 5-8 p.m. at Vander Plaat Colonial Funeral Home, 13-31 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn NJ. A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 31 at St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church at 15-05 St. Anne Street, Fairlawn, New Jersey; followed by the burial at George Washington Memorial Park, 234 Paramus Road, Paramus, NJ.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Leukemia Research Foundation in honor of his wife Valerie, https://leukemiarf.org/donate/.


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