Tom Fuscaldo, character and advocate who kept 'one eye on Paterson,' dies at 94
PATERSON — Tom Fuscaldo didn’t trust politicians. That’s what he said, again and again, in his speeches at City Hall and in the hundreds of letters to the editor he sent to local newspapers over the decades.
Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama — they all came under Fuscaldo’s fire over the years, along with countless elected officials in New Jersey, Passaic County and city government.
Take for example, one of Fuscaldo’s last letters published in The Record, an attack on a proposed increase in the state’s gasoline tax in 2016.
“Once again, politicians are talking about picking the public's pocket with distractions so we will not know what hit us,” Fuscaldo wrote.
After decades of outspoken activism and public service in Paterson, Fuscaldo died last week at the age of 94, his nephew said.
'One eye on Paterson'
A man who once made his living installing television antennas on top of houses, Fuscaldo was a backyard beekeeper, a glass bottle collector and one of the leaders of the Paterson Taxpayers Association in the final years of the 20th century.
His trademark was the black patch he wore over his left eye, the result of an injury he suffered more than five decades ago in a motor vehicle accident. Instead of allowing his impaired vision to be a liability, Fuscaldo wore the patch as a badge of honor, calling himself “One Eye on Paterson” because of his watchdog efforts.
Fuscaldo proudly displayed a drawing of himself wearing the patch in the “One Eye on Paterson” sign he hung from the second floor of his Preakness Avenue house and had the slogan and image printed on the bright yellow Cadillacs and Lincolns he drove.
“He truly deserves all the blessings,” said Aslon Goow, a former Paterson 2nd Ward councilman who knew Fuscaldo for decades. “When it comes to city government and accountability, he is one of the most proactive individuals in Paterson.”
Goow said Fuscaldo will be remembered for his “unwavering commitment and dedication to ensuring that city government officials remain accountable to the taxpayers.”
A gadfly at heart, Fuscaldo did enter the political arena a few times. In the 1980s, he lost a council election to Jose Torres, who went on to become Paterson’s mayor. Torres said Fuscaldo always put city spending under a microscope and frequently found ways to save taxpayers money.
Fuscaldo also wasn’t afraid to complain when he thought taxpayers weren’t getting their money’s worth from the city. Torres recalled one council meeting when Fuscaldo brought a bag of trash he had collected from sidewalks around his home and dumped the contents on the floor while speaking to elected officials.
“That’s how he made his point,” Torres said. “Society needs Tom Fuscaldos. He was a fiscally conservative watchdog.”
In 1989, Fuscaldo was so fed up with the performance of state officials in Trenton that he ran for governor. Almost 7,000 New Jersey residents cast their ballots for the “One Eye for Governor” candidate that year, but Fuscaldo finished sixth, trailing the winner, James Florio, by 1,372,948 votes.
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'The eptiome of an advocate'
Fuscaldo’s longtime neighbor Mike Eitel saw a different side of the activist.
“He was an amazing inventor,” Eitel said, recalling systems Fuscaldo set up in his home to flush his storm drains and heat one room in the house at a time.
Though Fuscaldo lived in Hillcrest, one of Paterson’s most prominent neighborhoods, he was a frequent participant at community events in the city’s troubled 4th Ward. For example, for more than 25 years, he participated in serving Thanksgiving dinner to needy families at the Masonic Lodge.
“He was the epitome of an advocate,” said activist Ernest Rucker. “He was an all-around person.”
Even into his early 90s, before the pandemic hit, Fuscaldo attended City Council meetings on a regular basis, voicing his opinions on the latest Paterson controversy week after week. At a few sessions, Fuscaldo handed out copies of the United States Constitution and bemoaned what he said was the lack of time spent in city schools teaching students about the document.
Fuscaldo never married. His nephew, Kim Puig, said that instead of a wake and funeral, his family would hold a memorial service honoring Fuscaldo in October.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Tom Fuscaldo dies
