Obituary of Edilberto Bermudez Gierbolini
Edilberto Bermudez Gierbolini, 87, of Freehold Township passed away at home on Sunday, May 25, 2025. He was born and raised in Coamo, Puerto Rico and came to the United States at the age of seven. Edilberto lived in Spanish Harlem and the Bronx before settling here in 1992. He proudly served in the United States Navy as a Seaman on the USS Gainard DD706 and was honorably discharged after 3 years and 11 months of service. He worked as a certified Residential Painter, a Correctional Officer, and ended his career as an NYPD Transit Police Sergeant for over 25 years before retiring. He was a loving, generous, loyal, and devoted husband who could not resist serenading his wife one on one or in a crowded room with love songs, oldies but goodies, and doo-wop tunes. He loved watching baseball and rooted for the New York Met team. We all knew him as a Lotto enthusiast who enjoyed his Atlantic City get aways with his wife to play the slot machines and a day at Monmouth Park for live horse racing. He was a proud Puerto Rican man who expressed it through his love of traditional island cuisine, salsa music, holidays, language history, and even marched in the NYC Puerto Rican Parade as a Hispanic Police Officer. Edilberto who we all affectionately called “Eddie” was known for being a jokester with an infectious laugh that we will truly miss. Later in life inspired by some of his own father’s writings he began to write poetry. He went on to win an Editor’s Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in poetry presented by poetry.com and the International Library of Poetry September 2008 for his Fellow Brother (Hard Times) poem. It’s no wonder he was found often napping with all he had going on living his best life.
He was predeceased by his parents, Tulio and Angela Bermudez; siblings, Alba, Jimmy, Leticia, Louis, Ofelia, Rosamerica, Tulin, and Zaida; former wife, Noemi Ayala; and grandson, Michael Anthony Pastrana. Edilberto is survived by his loving wife of 48 years, Maria Bermudez; children, Annette Bermudez, Nanette Cassara and her husband, Maurice, Catherine Pastrana, and Yvonne Rodriguez-Gonzalez and her husband, Richie; five grandchildren, Ethan Cross Mansanet, Kathleen Jean Pastrana, Joseph B. Cassara, Jenna Rose Cassara and Mateo Antonio Gonzalez; and siblings, Julio, Malta, and Rosie.
Visitation will be held at the Clayton & McGirr Funeral Home, 100 Elton-Adelphia Road (Route 524), Freehold Township on Sunday, June 1, 2025 from 2:00 to 6:00 PM. You are welcome to bring a handwritten meaningful message to be encapsulated in his casket for him to take with him on his journey home. Relatives and friends are invited to attend his 10:30 AM Funeral Mass on Monday, June 2, 2025 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine, 61 Georgia Road, Freehold Township. Interment will follow in St. Rose of Lima Catholic Cemetery, 299 Freehold-Englishtown Road, Freehold Township. For those who desire, memorial contributions in Edilberto’s name may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105. For information, directions or to leave condolence messages for the family, visit www.claytonfuneralhome.com
