John Michael Caruso, 53, of Rumson, peacefully passed away on March 4, 2021 at home surrounded by his family.
John was deeply involved in the Rumson and Fair Haven communities. In recent years, he was elected and served as president of the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School’s Board of Education. He coached dozens of youth sports teams extending from baseball, to basketball, to football, to soccer. He was a member of the recreation committee, founding member of the Two River Little League, served on the RFH Touchdown Club, was a key member of the RFH Diamond Club, and gave his time generously to countless other organizations.
He was born in Red Bank, grew up in Ocean Township and graduated from Ocean Township High School in 1985. He went to Muhlenberg College where he earned his B.A. in economics and graduated with honors in 1989. Following college, he entered law school at the University of Bridgeport School of Law, later renamed Quinnipiac Law School, where he received his Juris Doctorate Degree in 1992.
Upon receiving his law degree, he started his career in the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. In 1997, he co-founded CJS Companies (CJS) with his twin brother, Scott. CJS is a real estate development company that has developed over two thousand residential lots throughout New Jersey over the past 24 years. John Caruso brought each project through the regulatory approval process with aforementioned projects ranging from solar fields to low-income housing.
His efforts to better the community were copious and immeasurable, but perhaps his best-known act was his annual Christmas light display. Every year, he, his wife, and his sons spent hours setting up a Christmas display. The greatest joy he received was when a passerby would roll down their window and share that the display gave them and their families Christmas cheer.
He is predeceased by his mother, Rosemarie “Googie” Scott. Surviving is his beloved wife of 27 years, Kimberly Armstrong Caruso, his sons, John “Jake” Jr. and Kyle Caruso, his father, John Caruso, his brothers, Scott and his wife, Catherine, and Carmine, and his wife Carol, and his mother and father in law, Robert and Linda Armstrong. Also surviving are his nieces and nephews, Olivia, Michael, Nicholas, Dante, Jamie, Ashley, Maya, Matthew, Colton and Gavin.
A memorial gathering was held at the John E. Day Funeral Home, 85 Riverside Avenue, Red Bank, on March 10. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent in his memory to the Glioblastoma Research Organization or the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center.