Samuel Maccarone Sr., Woolwich mayor

For nearly 60 years, the small Gloucester County township of Woolwich has had a mayoral dynasty named Maccarone.

The second of three generations to hold the office, Samuel J. Maccarone Sr. served as mayor and deputy mayor in the 1990s, the beginning of Woolwich's metamorphosis from a rural South Jersey outpost to one of the most rapidly developed communities in the state, from barely 2,000 residents to more than 10,000 today.

On Saturday, Feb. 2, Mr. Maccarone died at Kennedy Hospital in Washington Township of a series of strokes. He lived to age 70, long enough to watch his son Sam Jr. be sworn in to a second term as Woolwich mayor on Jan. 1.

"He was very proud that his son picked up the reins," said his wife, Sue, recalling the two avidly talking local political history. "He was a reference [for Sam Jr.]. He knew everything about Woolwich."

He should have. His roots, literally, ran deep. In 1966, six years out of Swedesboro High School, he bought 124 acres on Oldmans Creek Road, and farmed it until degenerative discs forced him to retire in 2000.

Even more than politics, tilling the soil was the Maccarone heritage.

His father, Joseph, left Catania, Sicily, around 1912 and settled in Philadelphia's swelling Little Italy. He and fellow Sicilians found day work on South Jersey farms, and saved up to buy their own land.

In 1956, Joseph Maccarone's fellow Italians helped elect him Woolwich Township committeeman, then made him mayor for the next 18 years. He set up the first zoning and planning board, although Woolwich was more densely populated by four-legged denizens than those with two.

The board was his son's entrée into local government in 1981. Apart from being a solid Republican, he had shown no interest in politics. He was occupied sunup to sundown with his own farm, raising Jersey tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, and, later, Italian specialty produce.

Yet, when asked to serve, he did. He sat on the zoning board for 10 years, and ran for committeeman in 1991, a post he held nine years. Along the way, he became deputy mayor - a committee appointment - in 1997, and mayor from 1998 to 2000.

An intimidating future was advancing toward Mr. Maccarone and other Woolwich leaders. They wrestled with the inevitability of development, and how to preserve land values with a transfer of development rights program, his son John said.

"It never came together under his watch, but the groundwork was laid," he said. The issue now is "front and center" for the third Mayor Maccarone.

When Mr. Maccarone retired, he leased his land to a neighbor. Once an ardent hunter, he instead kept busy visiting farmer friends who had not yet given up. Few were left.

"He gave them his opinion, whether they wanted it or not," his son, John, said. "We called him a 'farm consultant.' "

Mr. Maccarone also was a ROMEO. Every Wednesday night, a dozen Retired Old Men Eating Out convened in a member's garage and took turns cooking. His specialties were steaks, sausage and peppers, and chicken cutlets, with plenty of politics and farming on the side.

Surviving, in addition to his wife of 46 years and sons, are a daughter, Donna; another son, Joseph; six grandchildren; two brothers; and two sisters.

Visitation will be at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at St. Joseph's Church, 140 Broad St., Swedesboro, followed by a Funeral Mass at 11 a.m. and interment in St. Joseph's Cemetery.

Donations may be made to Officer Down Inc., Box 552, Mount Laurel, N.J. 08054, or the American Cancer Society, 1851 Old Cuthbert Road, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034.