Manchester Man Killed In Parkway Crash Mourned

BRICK, NJ -- Anthony Romano had the kind of smile that would light up a room ... while hinting that some sort of mischief was right around the corner.

It's a smile seen in photo after photo of the 34-year-old on Facebook -- photos with friends and family, all of whom are mourning the loss of the Bloomfield man, who died Wednesday morning in a horrific crash on the Garden State Parkway.

"Anthony was something special," said one of his lifelong friends, who asked not to be identified. "He just had that about him, something otherworldly. It was like witnessing magic to be around him."

"His smile, I've never seen anything like it," the friend said.

Romano was southbound in a gray Ford Edge when his car hit the rear of a UPS truck shortly after 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Trooper Lawrence Peele of the New Jersey State Police said Thursday. The impact caused Romano's car to overturn and he was ejected, Peele said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the UPS truck was not injured, and Peele said the truck was towed from the scene.

Romano, who turned 34 in February, was a member of the Manchester Township High School Class of 2000, where he played baseball. He also played football growing up, according to friends who posted on his Facebook timeline. Romano went on to study at the Academy of Culinary Arts and wore his love of cooking visibly, in a tattoo on his arm of two chef's knives, their blades facing outward, with a Chinese symbol in the V space between them.

Romano, who was married, was working at PSE&G, according to his Facebook profile. Photos with his wife, various family members and friends show a broad grin and reveal a man who enjoyed working out.

His sense of humor comes through as well. In one photo where Romano is shirtless, showing off a physique that demonstrated his dedication to the gym, one friend joked that Romano needed a shirt for Christmas. Romano replied: "Please get me more. When I turn green they ripp so I need to stock up."

Friends and family members, posting on Facebook, recounted the positive effect Romano had on their lives.

"A heart of gold lost way too soon," one woman wrote.

"It's because of you I got out of my funk and got back in the the gym over a year ago," a man wrote. "You helped me get to the good place I'm in today about myself."

"You truly were my best friend," the man wrote.

Another man who worked with Romano at PSE&G said Romano, "Never talked about anybody. Always positive. Never negative. One of those guys that would give you the shirt off his back. Whatever you needed, if he could help, he would."

"At work, we were always going to grab breakfast or lunch. That's what I'll miss the most. In the short time I knew him I was proud to call him friend," the co-worker wrote. "And just looking at this wall I see he was loved by everybody!"

"I will never forget when you first got your license and would pick me up and play Eminem for me when I was probably way to young to be listening to it," another woman wrote, "to my college days of running into you at the bar and you buying me drinks or running into you at Starbucks because we shared the same addiction to coffee. You were not only my cousin but like a big brother."

"We're completely heartbroken," another woman said. "Your mischievous smile, the twinkle in your eye, I always knew when you were up to no good. ... I'll always remember your heart, your smile and your soul. RIP ANTHONY."