Friends remember slain Metuchen man
BY ENID WEISS Correspondent
To celebrate Halloween last year, Michael Fuccile and his family all dressed as characters from the Star Wars movies — wife Nancy was Princess Leia, sons Michael Jr. and Jack were Jedi knights, and daughter Brooke was Yoda.

That's the kind of fun, family man Fuccile was, said Justin Manley, a friend of the family. Manley's 7-year-old son, Jared, and Michael Fuccile Jr., also 7, have been friends since attending Community Nursery school together. This past spring, Manley was Fuccile's assistant coach of their sons' baseball team with the Metuchen Little League. Fuccile coached teams for both boys in baseball and soccer.

"Our wives talk to each other practically every day," Manley said. "I miss him so much already."

About 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 4, Fuccile, 36, was on his way to work as chief compliance officer for Merrill Lynch in Jersey City when he was stabbed and killed at the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Station in Jersey City. News accounts have reported that Elgin Louis Taylor, 24, was arrested and charged with the murder after witnesses chased him down and detained him until police arrived.

Meanwhile, friends, relatives and community members have rallied around Nancy Fuccile, Michael's widow, and the women at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Metuchen, where Fuccile was a communicant, have provided constant companionship and meals for the family, said Richard Lomax, a member of the parish.

The Fucciles met while both were in college at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Nancy Reynolds is a graduate of J.P. Stevens High School in Edison. The then Nancy Reynolds brought her date home one summer, said Nancy's big brother, Kevin Reynolds, of Fanwood.

"Right from the start we could tell he was a great guy," said Reynolds. "In October they would have been married 10 years. There are so many stories about Mike that come to mind — family truly came first to him. He would do magic tricks for the kids around the dinner table. My kids, my brother's kids, they all loved him. He was always great playing with them. He loved to put Lego sets together with them. His kids adored him, We'd be at their house for dinner and he'd walk in [from work] and they'd run and jump all over him."

Lomax met Fuccile a couple years ago through the Metuchen Little League, where the boys have been on T-ball and what the league calls Farm Ball teams. Fuccile served as a coach for a team in each league the last two years. Lomax, who serves as Farm League commissioner and is on the Little League board of directors, said he'd been talking to Fuccile about stepping into a spot on the board.

"He was a great Little League dad, he was a great dad," Lomax said.

He recalled the season and how many games were called and rescheduled due to rain.

"When we had to dry the field up, I'd send out an e-mail. He was always the first guy there to help. One day I called and we managed to get everyone to the fields for makeup games. He brought his boys over, gathered his team together, and he'd be down in the dirt with the kids, teaching them how to play."

Lomax spoke to the Sentinel as he returned from taking his son to the first day of first grade, where school officials met with parents.

Lomax said, "They told us they're getting grief counselors. It was a real somber affair."

Fuccile's wake was scheduled for Monday afternoon and the funeral will take place Tuesday morning. On Monday morning, Reynolds was working on a eulogy for Fuccile.

"My parents have a pool in Edison, and Mike would do back flips into the pool," Reynolds said. "Every July 4 we went to the Shore and he helped the kids decorate their bikes with streamers. He did that for his kids, for all the kids. The nieces and nephews would ask, 'Is Uncle Mike coming?' Mike had a lifelong impact on people, and it was a positive impact. There's no replacing him."