James Patrick Kennelly

James Patrick Kennelly, age 88, passed away peacefully on Sunday, March 15, 2026 at his home in Forked River NJ.

Jim was born on January 2, 1938 in Bayonne, NJ, the son of John and Helen Kennelly. He attended St. Patrick High School where he met the love of his life, Marianne Zlotek, of Elizabeth NJ. The two of them were selected to participate in a radio show together and the rest is history. They were married for 68 years and together raised five children.

Jim was a beloved husband and father. He enjoyed spending time with his wife Marianne, his children, and his entire extended family and close friends. He loved getting the family together to watch Sunday football games and cheer for the Giants. He looked forward to family celebrations, anything where family came together was sure to put a smile on Jim’s face. He was always glad to see you and everyone was always welcome at the Kennelly house. Jim’s family has many happy memories of Jim boating. Jim spent endless weekends taking his family and friends fishing on his boat. While no trophies were earned, that time enjoyed with his family was priceless to Jim and his children. It is the stories of these boating adventures that still bring joy and laughter to many family reunions.

Jim was preceded in death by his parents and his siblings, Mary, Michael, Francis, and Joseph. He is survived by his wife Marianne and his children Theresa, Robert and his wife Nancy, Dennis, Richard and his wife Cindy, and Meghan and her husband Brian. Jim was known as PopPop to eleven cherished grandchildren and G-PopPop to two great-grandchildren. He was Uncle Jimmy to many nieces and nephews and a loving brother-in-law to Mary Kennelly and Val Kirick.

Jim proudly served his country in the United States Navy where he was the ship’s barber. Hence the reason all of his sons had crew cuts in their younger years.

Jim was committed to providing for his family. While the children were young, he had multiple jobs and simultaneously worked to obtain his B.S. degree in Accounting from Rutgers University, which ignited his business and technology career.

Jim joined Johnson and Johnson in 1965 as a senior programming analyst and in 1968 he transferred to the Sherman plant as manager of systems and programming. He was soon appointed to the position of corporate systems consultant for their Management Services organization in New Brunswick, NJ.

Jim was always inspired by how technology could help people and businesses. During his career at the Archdiocese of Newark, he introduced the first mainframe computer and the use of punch cards. He also introduced terminals for user input predicting, “I think we are going to see the proliferation of personal computers to parishes.” By 1985 he had merged Seton Hall Archdiocese and hospital computer centers, introducing ethernet and wiring the dorms for campus-wide internet. He had them using state-of-the-art (at the time) floppy disks!

Jim then took this knowledge and vision to Bronx Community College where he was inspired by how they made education accessible to all. He installed campus-wide video surveillance for safety, wired the college library for networking and internet, and established their first enterprise Mail server so students and teachers could better communicate.

Always an entrepreneur at heart, Jim often tried new and innovative ventures. He created a company that ran payroll services for a number of New York City businesses. He also built business ventures around his personal interests in real estate and boating, often working in conjunction with his family.

In Jim’s memory, a Roman Catholic memorial mass will be held on Friday, March 27th at 10:30 AM at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ. Interment will follow at St. Gertrude’s Cemetery in Colonia, NJ at noon.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Jim’s memory may be directed to the Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of James Patrick Kennelly, please visit our floral store.