Rudolph (Rudy) Joseph Valentine
1939 – 2025
Rudolph Joseph Valentine (Rudy) passed away on April 29, 2025 at the age of 86.
Rudy was born in Waterbury, CT on April 1, 1939, the only child of Helen (Vargasko) and Rudolph (Dolph) Valentine. A graduate of Naugatuck High School, Naugatuck, CT, he was a standout member of the Greyhound football team. He continued his studies at the University of Bridgeport, playing football and earning a Bachelor of Science and Master’s Degree in Physical Education from Arnold College. After serving in the National Guard as a medic, he began his 38-year career in the Livingston, NJ school system teaching Physical Education, Health, and Driver Education and coaching Football, Wrestling and Track, concluding his career as Athletic Director.
In Livingston, he and his wife Rose (Pacharz), college sweethearts, raised four children on South Ashby Avenue. A winning Little League Coach and avid fan of the Mets and Jets, he often wore his favorite baseball cap honoring #17. Following his retirement, Rudy and Rose moved to their summer home on Long Beach Island, NJ where they biked and kayaked, building lasting memories with family.
Rudy is pre-deceased by his son, Joseph Michael Valentine (Heidi) and survived by his devoted wife Rose, his grateful sons Daniel Arthur Valentine (Robin) and Stephen Otto Valentine (Daphne) and daughter, Erika Michele Valentine, nine adoring grandchildren, Owen Nicholas Valentine, Jenna Lyn Valentine, Griffin Ilon Valentine, Ryan Henry Valentine, Olivia Trudy Valentine, Caden Benjamin Valentine, Jackson Joseph Valentine, Lucas Henry Hildebrand Krapf and Noah Jonathan Hildebrand Krapf and exchange student daughters Marielisa Pieri and Tascha Krapf (Dan). He will be missed by his faithful dog, Lucky, and remembered with great respect and admiration by the students and athletes he taught and coached.
Donations can be made to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation www.myeloma.org and the Jewish Community Center of Long Beach Island www.jccoflbi.org
Funeral Services will be held on Thursday, May 1 at 11:00 AM at Congregation Beth Chaim, 329 Village Road East, Princeton Junction, NJ 08550 followed by burial Mt. Lebanon, 189 Gill Lane, Iselin, New Jersey 08830.
Funeral arrangements are by Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel. OrlandsMemorialChapel.com/Rudolph-Valentine
It may not be a requirement that all athletic directors and probably all school administrators should be entirely selfless and devote all of their energies to ensuring that their staff can make certain that the athletes and students in our care get the best that we can give.
I know this because Rudy Valentine was the living testament to being selfless, student centered, and the example of someone who was only capable of giving to others. He needed nothing for himself and he reveled in the accomplishments of everyone under his kind attention.
There is not one, but dozens of stories that speak to the character of this wonderful man, from staying later to reseed the javelin area before the Essex County Relays, because according to Rudy, he could do it himself, to meeting the track coaches at Morristown Hospital late at night when one of our athletes suffered a serious head injury , and Rudy was there to find out about the young man and to offer support to his anxious and worried coaches. And of course, when we hosted the Relays, we did our meager best to treat him to a hot dog for everything he did for us. If you knew him at all, you know that Rudy insisted on paying. Year after year.
A wonderful man. A wonderful father. A wonderful friend.