Born: March 16, 1922
Died: May 29, 2016
Dominick Nizza passed away at the age of 94. A long time resident of Ridgewood the self-proclaimed “Mayor of Robert Street,” had quite a life even before landing in Ridgewood where he purchased his home in the “Lawns” back in 1948.
Born in Jersey City in 1922 to Italian immigrants some of Dominick’s earliest memories revolve around music, a lifetime passion he has carried throughout his many careers. His father was a shoemaker who once traded shoe repairs to a customer in exchange for singing and violin lessons for Dominick at the age of 10.
He graduated from Union City High School where he played in the marching band. During WWII Dominick entered into service with the U.S. Army as a mechanical engineer and worked for Bell Laboratories in New York.
Dominick learned to dance before entering the service, which would come in handy later in life when he opened up three Arthur Murray dance studios in New York City and then three of his own studios in New Jersey.
Dom became an “unofficial matchmaker” for his fellow servicemen while in Texas. When they left the base to unwind in local taverns he would dance with women and then introduce them to his friends. He would dance with a gal, and say “’Well, I want you to meet Joe and so it went. Then back in the barracks he would start to teach the guys some simple steps, the Lindy Hop and various basic dance moves. That’s when he came home one day and figured, “Gee, I could make money in the dance business”. Dominick opened up Antoine Studios, which then changed to Dale Studios when he began teaching dance instructors.
As a dance instructor he met his wife of 56 years, Mary, and six months later they were married and lived in North Bergen for a short period. They moved to “The Lawns” section of Ridgewood. He bought one of the 450 homes built for $10,250, a price far less than what the average village homeowner now pays in Ridgewood’s annual taxes.
Tapping into his background as a dancer and tumbler, Dominick Nizza and Tony Napier started a gymnastics program at Ridgewood High School. He helped to raise money in 1969 to purchase the school’s basic gymnastic equipment, and arranged to hold a gymnastics open house with professional gymnasts.
Dominick was involved with the Frank Thorne Chapter of barbershop singers, and would regularly put out a newsletter for barbershop news well before computers became widespread. He worked with the Public Relations Officers Bulletin Editors (PROBE) to send out information on barbershop groups and activities.
After working in a machine shop and owning his own personnel agency Dom began another career as a clerk in the County Courthouse in Hackensack. He would serve there for 25 years and became president of the Bergen County Superior Court Clerks Association.
He raised four sons with his wife Mary who passed away in 2001. Dominick was active in local politics and was an avid gardener who loved to giveaway tomato plants and flowers to everyone.
He is survived by four sons: Phil. Tom, John and Chris and four grandsons.
Funeral service will be held Friday, June 3 2016 at 8:00 PM at the C C Van Emburgh Funeral Home, 306 E Ridgewood Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450. Visitation will be from 2 to 4 & 6 to 8 PM
Thank you for this posting. Mr. Nizza was a wonderful, accomplished man. He was very involved with Ridgewood and spoke out when he felt it was necessary. As a dancer, singer, gymnast, loving family man and a veteran he will be sorely missed but remembered for all that he was.How fitting that his long, fruitful life should end on Memorial Day weekend. May he rest in peace.
I only knew of him through this blog. He was quite a man!
Lived across the street from him for some years and always found him to be interesting and well informed. RIP.
A good guy…he will be missed…
One of the good guys for sure. We’ll miss you Dom.
While I didn’t agree with much of his opinions on this Blog, I do respect that he HAD OPINIONS and was still active until he was 94.
Rest in peace.
Yes, James, I agree with Linda, thank you. Dom was a wonderful man, witty and wise. Always very opinionated, and I did not always agree with him. But he had the courage of his convictions. He was always to happy to talk with anyone, to share a meal in the Daily Treat, to talk about his geraniums, and he would give anyone who asked (or didn’t even ask) some home grown flowers in the springtime. He was truly an example of how to grow old gracefully, to stay alert and interested, to keep a sense of humor. He had his share of heartache, but always seemed to have a smile on his face. His absence in town will be keenly felt by all whose lives he touched.
A very nice man, R.I.P Mr, Nizza
Rest in peace Dom – you made Village debate fun, and certainly riled up lots of your neighbors and fellow Ridgewoid blog regulars.
He was one of the oldest living members of Somerville Hawes’ Dads’ Night. He will be missed!
He introduced me to Ridgewood and told me to have kids so my husband could be in Dad’s Night. He brought pink champagne over when my husband returned from his deployments. I will miss his vegetation and horticultural masterpieces!
So long Newsman Watcher.
So long Dom. Your spirit will always drift along the airwaves here in Ridgewood. You will be missed.
Dom Nizza was one of the most patient coaches I ever had .A believer in developmental gymnastics and a great motivator for our sport of gymnastics. I can remember him getting his glasses broken when teaching me a back handspring. I always felt bad when this would happen ….oh it happened a lot!!. I owe my gymnastics career to Coach Napier and Coach Nizza.Coach Chuck Yennie called Coach Nizza and Napier and said that kid Stoner in gym class was doing front handsprings without a rolled up matt and a spot! The rest is history .I devoted my sports to football and gymnastics. I went full time with gymnastics when coach Napier said you could be good at this but your going to have to give it your all. So I did.RHS will miss you coach Nizza and so will I.
Dom was a wonderful guy. Too bad our carpetbagger mayor mispronounced Dom’s name tonight at the meeting. I almost threw my shoe at the television I was so pissed off. And no, Mr. Aronsohn, Dom did not call himself the Mayor of Ridgewood, he called himself the Mayor of Robert Street. Don’t pretend you know someone when you don’t know him at all. I saved my TV from my shoes. Soon the meetings will be much more pleasant to watch.
The wake and service for Dom yesterday were very nice. There were many beautiful pictures of him, his family, and his beautiful gardens. Befitting a WWII veteran, there was a military presence with Taps played by a trumpet and an official flag folding and presentation to the family. Ridgewood has lost a good man. Rest in peace Dom.