Antonetta Manzi

On October 9, 2023, the beautiful soul of Antonetta Manzi passed on from this world. Antonetta was born on August 8, 1949 in Quindici, Italy to Mario Manzi & Venicia “Cornelia” D’Alessio. At infancy, she was stricken with Polio, leaving her paralyzed at the leg and yet determined in the mind.

Antonetta immigrated with her parents and sisters to Venezuela in 1959, where she would be educated and participate in social reform movements throughout the ‘60s. After graduating from high school, she was employed as a translator and interpreter throughout Venezuela and the Caribbean. She came to the US in 1972 to attend university at Rutgers and Montclair. After marriage and the birth of her first son, she would proceed to attend medical school in the Dominican Republic, attaining her MD and practicing her first passion for several years. She would then return to NJ, where she bore three more sons, after being told of the dangers of doing so. Antonetta raised and cultivated all four sons by herself and always cared for multitudes of others in her home as well. In 1995, Antonetta would plant roots with her family in Fair Lawn, NJ where she would reside for the rest of her life. After exploring many different entrepreneurial ventures, she used her fluency of 5 languages and her expertise of legal writing to establish herself as one of the leading and most capable experts on immigration law and process. Throughout her 30-year career in this field, she helped and fundamentally changed the trajectory of hundreds of families and thousands of lives, impacting whole communities here and throughout the world!

Antonetta had an insatiable spirit, a profoundly caring and loving heart, weak legs, strong hands, a sharp tongue and a powerful mind. She savored every moment and loved surrounding herself with people to share them with her, as she shared herself with all. She was everyone’s therapist and loved exploring the mind and psychology. She was interested in scientific theory, the cosmos, spirituality, ethics & morality, music, dance, languages & etymology, history, nature, food (she was regarded as the best cook!), literature, art & design, among so many other things. She was truly a jack-of-all-trades and a master-of-so-much! Anyone could spend hours talking with her about absolutely any topic; her knowledge and insight were inexhaustible. She had an unmatched reserve of energy and would never stop. Above all, she did everything with grace and was imbibed of Grace. An admirable person, she was regarded by many as truly unique and irreproducible. 

Her presence was a blessing for us all. She offered herself to the service of others and at the end to God. She is survived sons Edward Johnson (wife: Angela) of Orlando, Florida; John Barriento (wife: Laurel) of Fair Lawn, NJ; Carlos Barriento of New York, NY; grandchildren Joriana, Kamilah, Ephraim and Giancarlo; siblings Maria Manzi, Rosa Giammanco and Antonio Manzi; nieces Stefania, Joanna, Melissa, Rosanna and Cornelia; nephews Massimo, Michele, Giuseppe and Mario, as well as many others. She is preceded in death by her parents Mario & Venicia, her son Mario Barriento, her sister Giuseppina Manzi, and her niece Alicia Manzi. A funeral mass will be held at St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church in Fair Lawn, NJ on Saturday October 14, 2023 at 10:30am, followed by entombment at George Washington Memorial Park Cemetery in Paramus, NJ.