Obituary of Antonio Poletti

Tony Poletti – Owner of Mom’s Ristorante, Edison Antonio “Tony” Poletti, 86, of South Plainfield, passed away surrounded by his loved ones on Monday, January 13, 2020. The Funeral Mass will be held on Monday, January 20, 2020 at 10 AM at the Church of the Sacred Heart in South Plainfield. Entombment will follow at Holy Redeemer Cemetery. Family and friends will be received on Sunday, January 19, 2020 from 3 to 7 PM at McCriskin-Gustafson Home For Funerals 2425 Plainfield Ave. South Plainfield, NJ 07080. For additional information please visit www.mccriskinfuneralhome.com Tony was born the oldest of four children in Montedinove, Ascoli Piceno, Italy on October 8, 1933. At age six, his family moved to a suburb of Rome, Monterotondo. He worked as a laborer manufacturing bricks as a young man in Italy, although cooking was his real passion. In 1960, Tony emigrated to the United States and joined his family in Bound Brook. He worked as a construction laborer, for which he was a proud member of Laborers, Local 779. Pursuing his dreams, in 1968 he took over as proprietor of Mom’s Pizzeria and Ristorante on Route 27 in Edison with his brother Giuseppe (“Joe”) Poletti. Tony was the head chef at Mom’s until 1980, when he purchased the Beacon Manor Hotel in Point Pleasant with Joe and their brother-in-law, Luigi Fragassi. There, Tony opened up Mom’s South, where he worked as a chef until 1985, when the hotel was sold. He then resumed his culinary passion at Mom’s in Edison until it closed in 1998. Tony was a devoted son, brother, uncle, grand uncle, and friend. He had been a hard worker his entire life, first as a laborer, and then as a successful chef, hotelier, and restaurant entrepreneur. He also embarked on successful business partnerships, including the New Route 27 Car Wash in Metuchen, the East Gate Apartments in Bound Brook, and the Willows restaurant in Greenbrook. He was an avid antique car enthusiast as well as a devoted fan of the Italia National Soccer team and his hometown squad, AS Roma. His greatest joys were cooking for and spending time with his family and friends, hanging out at the Jersey shore where he had a second home, and spoiling his nephews and niece and their families, whom he loved like his own children and grandchildren. Tony was predeceased by his parents Secondo and Maria, and brothers-in law Ferdinando Caruso and Luigi Fragassi. He was the beloved brother of Joe Poletti and his companion Linda Johns, Iole Fragassi, and Anna Caruso. He was also the cherished uncle of Maria Santangelo, her husband Stephen, and their sons Maximilian and Xavier; Roberto Fragassi, his wife Linda, and their children Alexander and Juliana; Johnny Caruso and his daughter Olivia; and Joseph Caruso, his wife Caterina, and their children Joseph and Sofia. Tony is further survived by many loved ones, including friends and relatives both in Italy as well as in the United States. In lieu of flowers, donations in loving celebration and memory of Tony’s life may be made to the South Plainfield Rescue Squad www.southplainfieldems.org/donations American Cancer Society www.cancer.org or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital www.stjude.org