The NJ celebrities we loved who died in 2023

At the beginning of a new year, and the end of the last, it’s human nature to take an assessment of our lives. What we’ve gained, and what we lost. Sometimes who we lost.

Of the New Jersey celebrities that we lost in 2023 the one that hit me the hardest was Andre Braugher. He was also the most recent.

Andre Braugher

Andre was from Chicago but spent many, many years as a resident of South Orange, New Jersey. He was the kind of actor that could hold you spellbound. Perhaps best known for playing Frank Pembleton, a homicide detective on NBC’s "Homicide: Life On The Street", also appeared in shows like "Men Of A Certain Age" with Ray Romano and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" with Andy Samberg.

He died at the age of 61 on Dec. 11 from a brief battle with lung cancer. He never publicly disclosed it.

Of his work on "Homicide" it would be hard for me to pick a favorite episode. But I will just say one that really stood out. It was the one about a man who was pushed by a lunatic in front of a subway train and ended up with his body twisted and mangled, sandwiched between the edge of the platform and the train car itself. The victim was conscious as they worked with airbags to try to move the train enough to get him out.

The plot, whether scientifically sound, had it that he was lucid until they would move him at which point he would die almost instantly. Andre Braugher's character for the first time as a homicide detective got to interview the body before it died, staying with the victim through the ordeal.

The most amazing thing he did in this episode as an actor was turn everything inward. With fewer spoken lines than most episodes he turned in a haunting performance. Andre Braugher was truly among the finest actors of our time

Suzanne Shepherd

Born in Elizabeth, the actress is remembered as playing mob wives' moms. She was Henry Hill's wife Karen's mom in "Goodfellas" and "Sopranos" fans will remember her as playing Carmella Soprano's mom. She died at 89.

Tony Bennett

Even if you're young and only knew him because of his relationship with Lady Gaga, you knew him. He was the epitome of smooth. A winner of 20 Grammy awards he made Englewood, New Jersey his home from 1957 to 1971 and was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2011. The jazz crooner lived to be 96.

Wayne Shorter

If you know jazz you probably know composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter was from the Ironbound section of Newark. When he was a kid he would ride bikes with his friends into the mushy earth and tall weeds of the marshy area that is now Newark Liberty International Airport. How Jersey is that? He died at age 89.

Carol Higgins Clark

We lost this famous mystery novelist in 2023 to appendix cancer at age 66. She was the daughter of another famous author Mary Higgins Clark. She grew up in Washington Township and graduated from Immaculate Heart Academy in Bergen County.

At her induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2016 she talked about storytelling and how some say the gift comes from being Irish, but that she felt it helps to be from New Jersey.

Ron Cephas Jones

He grew up in Paterson and graduated from Ramapo College where he immersed himself in acting. His life was sidetracked for years over an addiction to heroin. He finally got clean in 1986 and went on to win an Emmy for his work playing Randall's father on "This Is Us."

Was there ever a more touching death scene than when Randall comforted William through it? The actor was 66 and passed away from a long-standing pulmonary disorder.

George 'Funky' Brown

You never attended a wedding reception without hearing his music. He was a founding member of the Jersey City band Kool & the Gang and co-wrote "Celebration" and many others. He was their drummer and a founding member. He died at 74 of lung cancer.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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