“Oh God, where do I begin,” said former Commissioner of Union City Tina Yandolino when asked about her son, Douglas Yandolino, who passed away last week. “He was just a loving and dedicated son and brother.”
Doug Yandolino, 48, the tax assessor in Union City since 1999, died on Thursday of heart failure. According to Yandolino, Doug Yandolino had open heart surgery six years ago.
“He was doing everything right,” said Yandolino last week, adding that her son always watched his diet and exercised regularly. “It just wasn’t good enough.”
Doug Yandolino was born and raised in Union City and graduated from Saint Joseph of the Palisades High School in West New York in 1972.
Yandolino worked with the City of Union City for 10 years before being promoted to tax assessor three years ago. Yandolino’s father, the late Phil Yandolino, was also a Union City tax assessor.
Loved by all
In a eulogy written by one of his friends, Dr. Donald Finelli, it said that Doug Yandolino was the “glue that held everyone together.” And his mother could not think of a better way to describe her son.
“If you became Douglas’s friend, you were in for the long haul,” said Tina Yandolino about her son who often played the role of social director, getting his friends or family together for any occasion. “You were his friend for life.”
Doug Yandolino also coached football for various high schools in the 1980s. Yandolino was the assistant coach at St. Peter’s Preparatory High School in Jersey City as well as coaching the football teams at Hudson Catholic High School in Jersey City, St. Joseph of the Palisades High School in West New York and Emerson High School in Union City.
“Many of the students that he had coached came back now as adults to the wake for their coach,” said Yandolino. The wake was held at Leber Funeral Home in Union City. “He played such an important part in so many young people’s lives,” she said. “It was just mind-boggling how many people came to his funeral. It was a tribute to the type of person he was.”
Yandolino was the president of the Hudson County Tax Assessor’s Association. He was also the president of the condo association where he lived in Lyndhurst.
Yandolino is survived by his mother and his brother, Phil.