These actors and musicians all called the Garden State home at some point in their lives. Though they have passed, their work and spirits endure.
Peter Greene
1965-December 12, 2025
Born and raised in Montclair. Greene attended Montclair High School but dropped out before graduating, according to his IMDB biography, and ran away from home as a teenager, he revealed in a 1996 magazine interview. He struggled with homelessness and drug addiction before pursuing acting and became best known for his villainous roles in the films Pulp Fiction and The Mask. Greene was slated to begin production on an indie thriller this January, the celebrity.land reported. He was 60.
Eddie Palmieri
1936-August 6, 2025
Photo: Shutterstock/lev radin
The Grammy-winning musician was a New York City native but was living in Hackensack when he died at home at the age of 88. Palmieri’s decades-long career was “marked by his groundbreaking fusion of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and jazz harmonies,” wrote Manahil Ahmad in an obituary for NorthJersey.com. “His orchestra La Perfecta, formed in the early 1960s, set a new standard for Latin music….showcasing his explosive piano style—a blend of precision, power and improvisational grit.”
Palmieri performed at the Montclair Jazz Festival in 2019. Earlier this month, on what would have been his 89th birthday, the festival posted a tribute on their Instagram account. “We are so thankful to Eddie for his music and his friendship!” it concluded. “Long may his legacy continue!”
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
1970-July 20, 2025
The Jersey City-born actor, beloved for his role as Theo Huxtable on NBC sitcom The Cosby Show, died in an accidental drowning off the coast of Costa Rica, ABC News reported. He was 54. Warner played Theo from 1984 to 1992, and was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series in 1986. More recently, he starred as a surgeon on Fox medical drama The Resident until the show ended in 2023.
“Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Jersey City native Malcolm-Jamal Warner,” Governor Phil Murphy posted on social media. “[…] Malcom-Jamal brought joy and hope to millions of Americans. We are praying for the Warner family during this incredibly difficult time.”
Connie Francis
1937-July 16, 2025
The Newark-born pop singer, best known for ’50s and ’60s hits like “Who’s Sorry Now?” and “Where the Boys Are,” passed away at the age of 87 this summer. Dubbed “the girl with the million-dollar cry” by Dick Clark, she was the first solo female artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Francis spent her early years in Brooklyn before her family moved back to New Jersey, where they lived in Newark’s Ironbound section and later Belleville. Francis attended Newark Arts High School for a few years before transferring to Belleville High School, where she graduated in 1955. She was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame’s Class of 2016 at a 2017 ceremony held at Asbury Park’s Convention Hall.
Just two months before her death, Francis had responded to news that her deep cut “Pretty Little Baby” had gone viral on TikTok, six decades after its original release. “My thanks to TikTok and its members for the wonderful, and oh so unexpected, reception given to my 1961 recording,” she wrote in a Facebook post. Her publicist and record-label president, Rob Roberts, had informed her of her “viral hit”—a term she didn’t understand. “Clearly out of touch with present day music statistics terminology, my initial response was to ask: ‘What’s that?’” she continued. “Thank you everyone!”
Lenny Welch
1938-April 8, 2025
Though born in New York City, the pop singer was raised in Asbury Park, where he was shaped by the vibrant Black music scene on the city’s West Side. He attended Asbury Park High School and joined a local vocal group called the Mar-Keys, which, according to the Asbury Park Press, opened for Little Richard at city’s Savoy Theatre in the 1950s. He later became best known for his cover of “Since I Fell for You,” which hit number 4 on the Billboard chart in 1963.
During a 2011 panel about the history of race and music, Bruce Springsteen referred to Welch as “Mr. Asbury Park,” according to NJ.com. Later that year, Welch returned to his hometown to perform at the Soul of Asbury Park concert held at the Paramount Theatre. In 2012, he was inducted into Asbury Park High School’s Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. A few years before his death, in 2021, Welch told the Asbury Park Press that he thought about the city “every day” and hoped to return “before I leave this earth.” He said he wanted to “walk around, go up Springwood Avenue because that’s where I grew up….just walk up the street, look around, visit relatives’ gravesites […].” Welch died in Florida at the age of 86.
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