Doris Cronin

Doris Cronin, 93, a longtime resident of Hawthorne, New Jersey, died on Monday, June 23, 2025 in Newtown, Connecticut. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1932, Doris was the youngest of two children of the late Carmela Pagano and Louis Vuolo, both of whom were born in hill towns in the southern Italian region of Campania around the turn of the twentieth century. She married the love of her life, Jeremiah “Jerry” Cronin, at her family’s parish church, St. Anthony Roman Catholic Church, in Hawthorne in 1950. Doris was a constant companion to Jerry for over 73 years until his death in 2024.

Growing up, Doris assisted her father Louis with his insurance business. She and Jerry ran the company as the Cronin Insurance Agency which later became the Manchester Insurance Agency. As small business owners, Jerry and Doris were generous contributors to their church and community, sponsoring local events and organizations over the years until their retirement from their business in 1994. They particularly enjoyed attending performances at the Paper Mill Playhouse with friends. In the late 1990s, she and Jerry began spending winters in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where they made many new connections and friendships that Doris maintained for many years afterwards.

Doris was a devoted mother to her only child Janice and became a grandmother in 1981. In 2012 she met her first great-grandchild. To her grandchildren and great-grandchildren she was affectionately known as “Ami,” and one of her great joys was spending time with them, whether as a host at the house in Hawthorne that she and Jerry had built on Goffle Hill or on travels both within the United States and internationally. She and Jerry also traveled extensively on their own and with friends, from her father’s village in Italy to Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Egypt. Doris would send detailed handwritten postcards to her grandchildren during her travels informing them of her latest adventures.

Her friends and family remember Doris as a fastidious manager of her household, an excellent cook who loved preparing southern Italian dishes, a successful businesswoman, a world traveler who nonetheless always remained a hometown Hawthorne girl, and a provider of constant love and support to her family. A traditional soul at heart, she did not embrace e-mail or text messaging but was never more than a phone call away and would always make time to talk.

Doris is survived by her daughter Janice Cronin Gardner and her husband Charles of Greenwich, Connecticut, her grandchildren Charles Gardner and his wife Kathy of Newtown, Connecticut, Nora Gardner Selman and her husband Peter of Manhattan, New York, Grace Gardner of Manhattan, New York, her great-grandsons Charlie Gardner, James Gardner, Henry Jeremiah Gardner, George Gardner, and Jack Selman, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. She was predeceased by her husband, her sister Emma Grace and her beloved cousin, Archbishop Gennaro Prata, S.D.B., formerly of Caserta, Italy.

Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial on July 18, 2025 at ten o’clock at St. Anthony Roman Catholic Church in Hawthorne, New Jersey to be followed by a lunch. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Star Legacy Foundation.