Catherine “Kate” (Finn) Gotti died Dec. 19, 2022, at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. She was 92.
Kate was born and raised in Jersey City, where she graduated from Snyder High School in 1948. She met her husband, J. Richard “Dick” Gotti at a dance, where she wore her green velvet dress that captured his attention. They married in 1953 and celebrated many years together until his death in 2008. Together, they raised eight children in Bayonne and Middletown.
Kate was predeceased by her parents, John Finn and Catherine (Foley) Finn, her husband J. Richard and her brothers, John Finn and Joseph Finn.
Kate is survived by her children, Cathryn Bergin (William) of Rumson; Margaret Gotti (Thomas Hofford) of Lanoka Harbor; Joan Gotti (Kevin McGettigan) of Little Silver; Richard Gotti (Susan Buskirk) of Kingsville, Maryland; John Gotti of Sea Bright; Anne Marie Gotti-Roberts (Jack Roberts) of Cedar Grove; James Gotti (Kim) of Oak Park, Illinois; and Elizabeth Gotti of Hackensack.
Kate also leaves seven grandchildren, Caitlin Bergin (Gregory Andrews) of Shelburne, Vermont; Courtney Polvere (Michael) of Hoboken; Caroline Bergin of New York, New York; Ian Hofford of Lanoka Harbor; Christopher Hofford of Belmar; Samantha Gotti and Luke Gotti, both of Oak Park, Illinois; and two great-grandchildren, Avery and William Polvere of Hoboken.
Kate’s parents were both born in Ireland. Her home growing up in Jersey City was filled with Irish history, songs and dancing. A devout Catholic, Kate was a faithful, active parishioner of St. Mary’s Church in Middletown; St. Paul’s Church, New Bern, North Carolina; St. Elizabeth’s Church, Avon-by-the-Sea; and the Church of the Nativity, Fair Haven. She was a member of the Catholic Daughters of America and the Rosary and Altar Society her entire adult life. She made rosaries for the poor well into her late years and performed many other volunteer activities too numerous to list.
Kate loved her big family and family gatherings with her brothers’ families and their kids and grandkids. Thanksgiving dinner sometimes exceeded 50 guests! Kate also loved sports. She was thrilled to be the biggest fan at her children’s, grandchildren’s and grand-nieces’ and nephews’ sporting events. She was a dedicated fan of the New York Giants and New York Mets, but nowhere near the level of fandom she held for the Duke University Blue Devils men’s basketball team. She loved Coach K and his teams through the years, ever since Bobby Hurley went to Duke from St. Anthony’s in Jersey City in the 1980s.
Kate will be warmly remembered for her devotion to her family, her love of God and the Catholic Church, her Irish soda bread, and her delicious crumb cake. Friday “pizza” nights in Middletown were special, where every neighborhood kid would linger by the back door awaiting an invitation. Her constant smile and her easy-going manner would invite them in.
Among her last words to her daughter, Joan, with whom she lived for the last part of her life, was, “I had a lot of kids. It was fun.”
Visitation will be held from 4-8 p.m. Jan. 5 at John F. Pfleger Funeral Home, Middletown. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Jan. 6 at The Church of the Nativity, Fair Haven. Interment will follow at Fair View Cemetery.
Donations in lieu of flowers can be sent to Lunch Break, P.O. Box 2215, Red Bank, NJ 07701 or lunchbreak.org.
The article originally appeared in the January 5 – 11, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
