Obituary of Joy Rockoff

How do you describe a woman as pure and significant as Joy Golodner Rockoff?  She died August 3, 2023 at age 89, from complications of a confluence of medical conditions.  She lost a life that deserves a brief but important recitation of its importance.

She was born in Rahway, New Jersey, the daughter of a pharmacist and an opera singer.  Her mother toured the country with the Strauss Theater Group.  Joy was professionally trained as a singer and dancer, accepted to Juilliard, but declined to remain a teenager in Rahway, where she excelled in school productions, summer camp shows and then, in college, at New Jersey College for Women, now known as Douglas Campus of Rutgers University.  While there, she was the lead dancer in Orchisis, a nationally recognized theater dance group.

Her upbringing taught her lifelong lessons to strive for, and maintain the energy required to approach all of her tasks with respect and understanding through life.  She married her college sweetheart in 1954.  Her husband, Alan, became a captain in the US Air Force, and Joy joined him in Normandy and Paris, France for 2 ½ years, where their first child, daughter Wendy was born.  She returned to the United States in 1958 and her young family settled in Linden, New Jersey where she completed her education and became a teacher in the Newark school system, while her husband was completing his law school education.  Her second child, Steven, who is now a medical doctor was then born in Rahway hospital, while the family settled in Woodbridge, New Jersey.  It was there that Joy raised their family while Alan started and pursued his law practice.  During that time, she rose to Presidency of Hadassah, starred in theatrical productions and became a sought afterfriend of contemporaries raising their families in the community.

To put Joy’s life in the proper perspective, she was the silent moving force behind her husbands’ progress as a politician, township attorney, judge, prosecutor and executive director of the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation, over 3 decades.  Joy always found time to be by her husbands’ side at dinners and functions where she participated with smiles and conversation that endeared her to all.  She literally surrendered her dreams to fulfill her husbands’ ambitions.

During this time, she worked at The New Jersey Parkway Authority, as Secretary to the Chairman, at Merck Pharmaceutical as Secretary to the President and then as a successful Field Representative for the J&J Temporary Employment Agency.  She performed while juggling her family responsibility and her commitment to her husbands’ success.  She multitasked selflessly.

When Wendy left for college at Joy’s alma mater, Rutgers, and Steve went to Dickinson College to study medicine, she and Alan moved to their dream home in Colonia.  There for the next 20 years, she created a haven for her returning children and their spouses, and their four beloved grandchildren, who loved coming to Grandma’s house for her spaghetti lobster casserole, the pool with the water slide and the tennis court.  She provided a lifetime of memories for them all.

When retirement loomed, they moved from the Colonia home that she loved, to the retirement community, The Regency, in Monroe Township, where she lived until her passing.  Here she contributed her beautiful singing voice to the many productions and choruses, was active in Hadassah, the Women’s Club, Fashion Shows and excelled in her favorite game of Mah Jong.

Joy is the model for a woman of breed, talent and generosity.  Her contributions to the growth of her four successful grandchildren and her love of her great grandchild will sorely be missed attributes of a life well lived.

Her high school yearbook comment under the photo of her beautiful face stated, “Good singer, good dancer, vivacious and witty, but Joy is most famous for just looking pretty."

That sums of the life of 89 years well lived.  She shall be eternally remembered and missed by all who knew her and all she touched during her life.

She was predeceased by her parents, Irving and Mina (Fink) Golodner, one sister, Ina Golodner, and one brother, Charles Golodner.

She is survived by her husband of 68 years, Honorable Alan Rockoff (JSC Ret.) of The Regency, Monroe Twp., two children, Wendy Raye and her husband Chris of Boca Raton, FL, and Dr. Steven Rockoff and his wife Elaine of Williamsport, PA, four grandchildren, Bryant Rockoff and his wife Danielle, Craig Rockoff, Dylan Rockoff, Gianna Rockoff, one great granddaughter, Isabella, one niece, Jan Dawald, one great niece, Dr. Lauren Hobson, and many other extended family members.

A funeral service will begin at 11:00am on Sunday, August 6, 2023 at the M. David DeMarco Funeral Home, Inc. 205 Rhode Hall Rd. Monroe Twp., NJ 08831, 732-521-0555. Graveside services and interment will follow in Beth Israel Cemetery, Woodbridge.

In lieu of flowers and for those who desire, memorial donations may be made in Joy's name to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, www.stjude.org.