Anthony Buonaguro died peacefully in Holmdel Sept. 14, 2025. He was 79 years old and is survived by his beloved children, Andrew and Gina, his wonderful daughter-in-law Janine, and son-in-law Ajay, and his four cherished grandchildren, Amelia, Andreas, Nicholas and Gabriella. For more than 50 years, he was married to his soulmate and love of his life, Lydia, who died in 2020.
Born in Brooklyn in June 1946 to Roger and Fina Buonaguro, Tony grew up in East New York with his sister Camille. He attended elementary school at St. Sylvester Catholic Elementary School. Even as a child, he aspired to be a lawyer and was known to study maps in his spare time, play stoopball with the neighborhood boys, spend time with his cousins, and beg on Thanksgiving. A proud Brooklyn Dodgers fan until the team left the city in 1957, he eventually switched his allegiance to the Yankees and loved watching and playing baseball until well into middle age.
Tony attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, where he formed several lifelong friendships and graduated at the top of his class, winning numerous accolades. He majored in philosophy at Manhattan College on a full scholarship, studying on the subway every day for two hours each way, since he still lived at home. He was always grateful to the Christian Brothers who educated him at both Loughlin and Manhattan in the Lasallian tradition, often commenting in his later years that they made him the man he was.
On St. Patrick’s Day 1963, when he was 16 years old, Tony went to a dance at Chellis Hall in search of a prom date. He not only found a date, he also met his forever love, feeling an immediate connection with Lydia once they realized they shared the same birthday. At first, she was unimpressed with his fashion sense, complaining to her mother that “he wore cuffs.” Soon enough, though, she saw what a wonderful young man he was (and that she could choose his clothes), and they married at Sacred Heart Church in Queens in 1968.
In 1967, Tony made his parents and family extremely proud by obtaining admission to Harvard Law School. Engaged to Lydia, he spent the first year in campus housing, where his roommate was an easy-going guy from Montana. Tony, on the other hand, had grown up in New York City and thus was known as the “mad locker” for always religiously locking and double-checking all the doors and windows at night. While at Harvard, he joined the Army ROTC, eager to complete his legal education despite frequent campus protests. He spent three unforgettable months at officer training school in rural Georgia. He always felt his military experience trained him to take naps anytime, anywhere, a proud tradition he continued for the rest of his life.
Upon graduation, Tony’s first job was at Davis Polk, a Wall Street law firm. His legal career subsequently took him to Prudential, KTI, NOLHGA and MetLife. He eventually opened his own practice and engaged in board directorship work before retirement.
At each stage of his career, he formed strong friendships and associations, and consistently practiced law with the utmost integrity.
While Tony was advancing his career, he enjoyed his personal life to the fullest. He and Lydia moved to central New Jersey so they could buy a house, and he loved being father to Andy and Gina. He enjoyed lively dinner table debates, playing sports with his kids, and coaching several of their soccer teams. He reveled in his annual Christmas Eve reading of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” first with his children and, later, his grandchildren on his knees.
He planned four major family vacations when Andy and Gina were young and took great delight in administering vacation tests afterward to ensure the kids paid attention. He faithfully read the Wall Street Journal daily for many decades. When playing Trivial Pursuit, he was required to always answer all six questions on the cards as a handicap, and he still almost always won.
He and Lydia had a group of friends called the Gourmet group, and they enjoyed many social outings, Halloween dress-up parties, and disco-themed New Year’s Eves together.
When both Andy and Gina attended Villanova University, Tony and Lydia became proud ’Nova parents and huge Wildcat basketball fans, thrilled by their multiple championships. For many years, he ran the family NCAA basketball pool, complete with clever commentary.
Although never known to be a great athlete, in his 30s, he took up hiking with friends, sometimes with Lydia. He was so proud of his accomplishments, which included hiking the Grand Canyon several times, including rim-to-rim, Angels Landing in Zion National Park, the Smokies, Glacier National Park, and the top of Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous United States.
Both his hiking and his career had him traveling all over the country; when he retired, he’d visited 46 of the 50 states. He subsequently planned a special seven-week road trip with Lydia so he could bag the final four states. He often visited his sister in Arizona and Gina in all the various places she lived, including Canada. He enjoyed a “roots” tour to Italy and two romantic European river cruises. His impeccable sense of direction was legendary.
From planning parties and hosting holidays to making his famous salads and antipasti (although he was best at cleaning up), Tony loved being with Lydia. Besides traveling and spending time with their grandchildren, they loved playing games together, especially Scrabble, Carcassonne, and bocce. They moved six times, mostly within New Jersey, with a brief stint in Northern Virginia, building houses and making friends. For their final move, Tony and Lydia decided to build a beautiful home in Shrewsbury, to live closer to Andy, Janine, Nicholas and Gabriella.
After Lydia died in 2020, Tony missed her terribly and never really recovered from her loss. He was grateful to find happiness and laughter again for several years with Carol Jean Floegel, who’d suffered a similar loss.
Tony was known for his belly laugh, sharp mind and big personality, often guffawing so hard he would stamp his feet and tears would come to his eyes. He was a wonderful and devoted husband of 52 years, an involved and loving father, father-in-law and grandfather, as well as an excellent attorney, first-rate work colleague and loyal friend. He will be missed immeasurably.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Tony’s name to Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn or the education arm of the Lasalle Christian Brothers.
The article originally appeared in the October 9 – 15, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
