A funeral mass was offered June 2 at Our Lady of Mercy Church, Jersey City, for Dominick J. Pugliese, 84, former City Council president and Hudson County Sheriff. He passed away May 27 after a battle with brain cancer. He was surrounded by family and peacefully resting in the Toms River home he built with his wife Sylvia Pugliese. Born in Jersey City to the late Sarah and James Pugliese, Dominick devoted himself to his family and his community. Helping in his family’s grocery store, Dominick began working as a young boy in downtown Jersey City. Dominick, an all-county baseball star with Ferris High School, served in the Korean War, where he was awarded a Purple Heart.
As a Jersey City police officer for 25 years, Dominick won several commendations. He served as president of the city’s Police Officers Benevolent Association in 1970. In 1971, he was elected to the City Council as an at-large member. Re-elected in 1973, Dominick was voted Council President, and in 1983, he was elected the Sheriff of Hudson County and launched Hudson County’s Ident-A-Kid Program, which implemented fingerprinting in elementary and pre-schools to prevent cases of missing children.
Left to honor Dominick and remember his love are his wife of 60 years, Sylvia (Klotz) Pugliese of both Jersey City and Toms River; his daughters, Donna Pugliese Magliaro and Jo-Ann Pugliese Pritzlaff; sons-in-law Albert Magliaro and Edward Pritzlaff; five grandchildren Lindsey, Christopher, and Jena Pritzlaff and Marc and Michele Magliaro, all residents of Monroe Township; his siblings, Joseph Pugliese, Rose Pugliese Seaman of Jersey City, and Vita Marie Pugliese Watson of Toms River; many nieces and nephews and countless firends. Services arranged by the Greenville Memorial Home, Jersey City.