Gary Rabbitt was one of the most popular and beloved coaches in North Bergen Recreation. He was constantly involved tutoring the young athletes of the township. Whether it was softball, football, basketball or baseball, Rabbitt was always there, giving of his time and endless energy to the kids of the town where he lived most of his life.
“He loved coaching the Packers,” said Rose Marie Rabbitt, Gary’s wife for more than 25 years. “He loved those kids and loved being with them. He was always active in coaching.”
However, in 2004, while he was also coaching basketball at Immaculate Conception in Secaucus, Gary Rabbitt didn’t look right, according to his wife.
“He said that he had a little gas, but I knew something wasn’t right,” Rose Marie Rabbitt said.
As it turned out, Rabbitt didn’t have just a little gas. He was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer that rapidly spread throughout his body.
“We never used that word,” Rose Marie said. “We couldn’t even say the word, ‘cancer.’ Gary was never angry about it. He never questioned his faith, never questioned God. He said that he just wanted to wake up one day and put it all behind us.”
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Last November, Rabbitt eventually succumbed to the cancer that ravaged him for more than two years. He was only 49 years old.
He left a son, Gary Jr., who also coaches in the North Bergen Recreation Department, two daughters – one of whom, Michele, is a cheerleading coach in North Bergen – a grandchild and a wife who adored him. “He really went through a lot,” Rose Marie Rabbitt said. “He suffered so much. But his faith in God got him through it.”
Rabbitt, who was a standout athlete during his high school days at St. Aloysius in Jersey City, was a construction project manager for Panasonic in Secaucus for the last 19 years. Through the work schedule, he always found time to coach the kids of North Bergen and Secaucus.
“He was truly an inspiration to a lot of people,” Rose Marie Rabbitt said. “He was that to his family, his friends, doctors, co-workers. Even when he had cancer and was suffering, he was taking people to their chemotherapy treatments. He was encouraging others to go. He truly was a saint.”
Where the research goes
After Rabbitt passed away on Nov. 2, 2006, Rose Marie wanted to know if there was some way that he could be remembered forever.
“I wanted to do something,” Rose Marie said. “I wanted to do something in his memory.”
So she opened a gift fund in Gary’s memory, with all of the donated funds going to the research of Dr. Charles Hesdorffer, the oncologist who helped to treat Rabbitt during his entire battle.
“Dr. Hesdorffer is doing extensive research to find cures for aggressive cancers like the one that attacked Gary,” Rose Marie Rabbitt said. “He’s now doing research at Johns Hopkins University, so that’s where the fund money will go. The research is so very expensive, so they need every penny they can raise.”
Rose Marie Rabbitt is of modest means. She works as a teacher’s aide in Fort Lee. The family is by no means wealthy.
But this was something she wanted to establish, to keep the memory of her beloved husband alive.
“I just feel that this is something Gary would have wanted,” Rose Marie Rabbitt said. “He was a giving person, the type of person who always wanted to give back. I just felt that this was the perfect way.
Added Rose Marie, “Sometimes, I can’t believe he’s not here. It’s almost unfair that he’s not here. He really went through a lot.”
Rose Marie Rabbitt still wears a necklace that bears a picture of her with her husband, as well as his wedding ring on a chain around her neck.
“In that way, he’s always with me,” she said. If anyone cares to give a donation to the Gary Rabbitt Memorial Fund, send the checks to the Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Department of Medicine, 100 North Charles St., Suite 412, Baltimore, MD 21201 or call (410) 516-6606. Make sure that you put on the check that it’s for the Gary Rabbitt Memorial Fund. Credit card donations are accepted as well.