Jean Zisa, matriarch of Hackensack public service family, dies

TRIBUTE: Jean Fontanella Zisa, a lifelong Hackensack resident who saw one son become mayor, another police chief and state Assemblyman and the third a deputy police chief, died today at home. Mrs. Zisa, widowed last summer after nearly six and a half decades of marriage, was 86.

A Mass of Christian Burial is set for 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Francis R. C. Church, 50 Lodi Street, Hackensack, with burial following at St. Joseph's Cemetery, also in Hackensack, next to her late husband.

Visiting hours are from 4-9 p.m. Monday at G. Thomas Gentile Funeral Service at 397 Union Street, Hackensack.

Mrs. Zisa came from a family of public servants.

She retired as secretary and office manager at Zisa Insurance Company of Hackensack, founded in 1946 by her husband, Frank, who died last June at the age of 91.

They had been married 64 years.

The grandmother of three was a parishioner at St. Francis and a member of two Italian-American service organizations, the Ladies of UNICO and the Society of Santa Croce.

One son, Jack Zisa, was Hackensack mayor for 16 years.

Another, Charles "Ken" Zisa was a state Assemblyman and has been Hackensack's police chief nearly as long.

Concidentally, Frank C. Zisa, who was mayor from 1977 to 1981, served 16 years on the City Council.