Obituary for Salvatore DiPiazza
Born Giuseppe Falcone, he was a twin, however his brother was stillborn, and his mother also passed away in childbirth. Rather than have him go to an orphanage, or taken by one of his oldest siblings, his aunt contacted his biological father, Rosolino DiPiazza (known as Fred) went to Sicily to get him. He and his wife, Ingrid, adopted him, naming him Salvatore DiPiazza after his paternal grandfather. He didn’t care for Salvatore, and went by the name of Sal.
Growing up, he worked at Pizzaland in North Arlington (this is the pizzeria shown at the beginning of the Sopranos) and helped his father with the raising of Great Danes. In his teens Sal became a member of the Pagan Motorcycle Club. Sal was a class A auto mechanic and was trained by BMW. He quit High School, but after getting his GED he attended Farleigh Dickenson. He had even had dabbled in car racing for a while.
Then he joined the Army and trained to be in the Special Forces, and continued on to be a Spec Op soldier, and obtained the rank of Sargent. He was given command over his team of seven. Unfortunately, the records from that time are sealed and we have been unable to get a copy of his discharge papers. It is a shame because he deserves to get the flag he earned fighting for his country. Now that he is dead, perhaps someone will see this and he would be so honored. On his last mission while parachuting out of a helicopter, a missal exploded near him causing his chute to collapse. He plummeted down through the trees, which slowed his descent but he suffered traumatic brain injury, burns to his side and his legs were nearly destroyed. He was in a comma for about six weeks. The doctors didn’t think he would survive and if he did, his legs would have to be amputated. Through the efforts of his father, Sal was treated at Presbyterian hospital in New York and his legs were reconstructed by the top doctor in the field. He had to relearn how to take care of himself; to talk and eat. To teach himself to walk again he used a small clicker toy tapped to the bottom of his foot so when it clicked, he would know his foot was on the floor.
There were a great number of things in his life, too many to illustrate here. Sal’s life wasn’t easy. He did manage to have a service writer position at a car dealer/repair shop for a while, but his brain injuries started to interfere with his ability to hold a job. He even tried to do garbage pickups, but his legs couldn’t manage the task. I could write about his relationship with his best friend, Baron, a Fawn Great Dane. The heartbreak when his fiancé at the time had the animal destroyed because she was jealous/or afraid. How his father passed away in 1991, and Sal wasn’t there, blaming himself for it, thinking how he might have been able to save his dad. How proud Sal was when his daughter was born. How much alike she was to him, “working” by his side fixing cars, going to monster truck rallies, shouting faster daddy, when they drove. The pain he felt when he needed to allowed her maternal grandmother to take care of her. He met his wife, Karin Machrone Bellotti in 2005 and they married in 2009. With his mental and physical health declining, he developed Epilepsy and suffered from tachycardia (suffered from 8 heart attacks, and an alphabet of other problems. Sal was found in front of his home in Westfield, not aware that it was his home. After a number of incidences like that, in 2015 he broke his leg in a fall, suffered from 3 sub hematomas, and needed to stay in a nursing home, no longer able to take care of him-self. How, on March 7th 2019 his best friend, Huey Faggins, after the two of them had talked all night, Hugh died suddenly in a freak accident, when he had an argument with his mom and plunged his arm through the glass in his front door and bled out. Suddenly, Sal’s best friend was no longer there for him.
In late 2021 he applied and was accepted to move to another nursing home and was looking forward to the change. We were only waiting for a bed to become available. He still had hope for a future, being able to spend more intimate time with his wife, something the present facility had severely restricted. He wanted to help run a medical transportation company with some people he knew. He hoped that making some money would allow him and his wife to move back in together with only nursing care during the day. There is so much more, how people enjoyed his company, how funny he could be with his stories. How he could be dangerous as well, but only if you crossed him. He would defend his friends to the extreme. His fellow nursing home residents would always say how much they liked him and appreciated him, keeping the boredom of being in such a place at bay. They said how much they would miss him.
We celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary on June 17th and on Sunday, Father’s day June 19, he suddenly developed sepsis and died. It wasn’t that death wasn’t anticipated, but it wasn’t expected… not on that day, not so soon.
Sal is survived by his wife, Karin, his daughter Alisha Dachowicz, grand daughter Aubrey Ann born 8/8/2018, and two step sons, Justin and Tristan Bellotti and Kitty, the cat he loved because she thinks she’s a dog.
Growing up, he worked at Pizzaland in North Arlington (this is the pizzeria shown at the beginning of the Sopranos) and helped his father with the raising of Great Danes. In his teens Sal became a member of the Pagan Motorcycle Club. Sal was a class A auto mechanic and was trained by BMW. He quit High School, but after getting his GED he attended Farleigh Dickenson. He had even had dabbled in car racing for a while.
Then he joined the Army and trained to be in the Special Forces, and continued on to be a Spec Op soldier, and obtained the rank of Sargent. He was given command over his team of seven. Unfortunately, the records from that time are sealed and we have been unable to get a copy of his discharge papers. It is a shame because he deserves to get the flag he earned fighting for his country. Now that he is dead, perhaps someone will see this and he would be so honored. On his last mission while parachuting out of a helicopter, a missal exploded near him causing his chute to collapse. He plummeted down through the trees, which slowed his descent but he suffered traumatic brain injury, burns to his side and his legs were nearly destroyed. He was in a comma for about six weeks. The doctors didn’t think he would survive and if he did, his legs would have to be amputated. Through the efforts of his father, Sal was treated at Presbyterian hospital in New York and his legs were reconstructed by the top doctor in the field. He had to relearn how to take care of himself; to talk and eat. To teach himself to walk again he used a small clicker toy tapped to the bottom of his foot so when it clicked, he would know his foot was on the floor.
There were a great number of things in his life, too many to illustrate here. Sal’s life wasn’t easy. He did manage to have a service writer position at a car dealer/repair shop for a while, but his brain injuries started to interfere with his ability to hold a job. He even tried to do garbage pickups, but his legs couldn’t manage the task. I could write about his relationship with his best friend, Baron, a Fawn Great Dane. The heartbreak when his fiancé at the time had the animal destroyed because she was jealous/or afraid. How his father passed away in 1991, and Sal wasn’t there, blaming himself for it, thinking how he might have been able to save his dad. How proud Sal was when his daughter was born. How much alike she was to him, “working” by his side fixing cars, going to monster truck rallies, shouting faster daddy, when they drove. The pain he felt when he needed to allowed her maternal grandmother to take care of her. He met his wife, Karin Machrone Bellotti in 2005 and they married in 2009. With his mental and physical health declining, he developed Epilepsy and suffered from tachycardia (suffered from 8 heart attacks, and an alphabet of other problems. Sal was found in front of his home in Westfield, not aware that it was his home. After a number of incidences like that, in 2015 he broke his leg in a fall, suffered from 3 sub hematomas, and needed to stay in a nursing home, no longer able to take care of him-self. How, on March 7th 2019 his best friend, Huey Faggins, after the two of them had talked all night, Hugh died suddenly in a freak accident, when he had an argument with his mom and plunged his arm through the glass in his front door and bled out. Suddenly, Sal’s best friend was no longer there for him.
In late 2021 he applied and was accepted to move to another nursing home and was looking forward to the change. We were only waiting for a bed to become available. He still had hope for a future, being able to spend more intimate time with his wife, something the present facility had severely restricted. He wanted to help run a medical transportation company with some people he knew. He hoped that making some money would allow him and his wife to move back in together with only nursing care during the day. There is so much more, how people enjoyed his company, how funny he could be with his stories. How he could be dangerous as well, but only if you crossed him. He would defend his friends to the extreme. His fellow nursing home residents would always say how much they liked him and appreciated him, keeping the boredom of being in such a place at bay. They said how much they would miss him.
We celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary on June 17th and on Sunday, Father’s day June 19, he suddenly developed sepsis and died. It wasn’t that death wasn’t anticipated, but it wasn’t expected… not on that day, not so soon.
Sal is survived by his wife, Karin, his daughter Alisha Dachowicz, grand daughter Aubrey Ann born 8/8/2018, and two step sons, Justin and Tristan Bellotti and Kitty, the cat he loved because she thinks she’s a dog.