A memorial gathering will be held for Ann Spina-Sperling, 54, at 2 Edgewater Road in Cliffside Park on Sunday, June 1, beginning at 12 noon. Formerly of Hoboken, residing in Cliffside Park at the time of her passing on May 7, she was the wife of 22 years to Marvin Sperling; mother to Billy Spina and his wife Trish of Guttenberg; sister to Fran Santoro of Brick Township, Frank Spina and Peter Spina, now residing in Florida, and the grandmother of Billy Ryan Spina.
She graduated with honors from New York University with a master’s degree in journalism. She was employed by the Jersey Journal for several years as a roving reporter and columnist; at Franciscan Health Systems of Jersey City in their public relations department, and as a freelance consultant to Berlex Laboratories and Bayer Pharmaceuticals for 14 years in their marketing and communications departments, located in Wayne and Whippany.
She was a very spiritual person, full of love and sharing laughter with everyone. A founder of the Liberty Humane Society in Jersey City, the CEO of Environmental Graphix Inc, the owner of WORDS (a public relations and advertising agency), the founder and CEO of the Animal People Foundation, Inc., a 501c3 charity directly involved in the protection of abused and abandoned animals and funding of animal rescuers in New Jersey, as well as sanctuaries in the British West Indies, New Jersey and California.
Annie enjoyed spending time with her family and five rescued cats and beloved dog Shane. She and her husband enjoyed 26 consecutive years vacationing on the island of Anguilla, walking the beaches and swimming, incessantly reading books and listening to spiritual CDs.
Annie’s ashes will be scattered on the waters of Rendezvous Bay in Anguilla on July 16, her birthday. Her remains will be surrounded by the ashes of the many, many pets that she rescued, fostered and adopted for the past 30 years.