Vinnie Soviero Obituary, Death – On December 3, 2022, after nearly two weeks in hospitalization due to a heart attack, Vincent J. Soviero III passed away surrounded by his loved ones. Known to his friends and acquaintances as “Vinnie the Guinea” (or “WOP Cop,” depending on the context), this man embraced every opportunity and made the most of every situation. He had a huge presence and was always the center of attention, even at a funeral.
He was just trying to make people laugh, especially at himself, and he expected others to do the same, so even if they found some of his jokes offensive or unsettling, that wasn’t his objective. Vinnie’s birthday is September 20th, and he has spent his entire life in the same place: Red Bank, New Jersey. His parents, Vince and Ann Soviero, had lived in Red Bank all their lives, and he was their oldest son. His upbringing as an Italian American and Roman Catholic did not prevent him from being the class clown during his years of public schooling in the Red Bank area. He is a member of the Class of 1963 from Red Bank High School.
The Carlton Theater in Red Bank is now known as The Count Basie Theater, and he worked there as an usher among other odd jobs. In a place where he and his pals had gathered a few years earlier to light natural gas streams produced by a specific physiological function [not to be tried at home, kids], he now found himself in a position of authority, which would prove ironic.
Soon after, he enlisted in the Marines and served for four years, including a Vietnam deployment that lasted fourteen months. He remained a reservist for another two years. He followed in the footsteps of his father and great-grandfather by joining the elite Marine Corps Band to pursue his lifelong passion for music.
The oldest military band in the United States, “The President’s Own” was also the first professional music group in the country. After serving his country, he joined his father at the Bendix Corporation. On June 1, 1968, he married Elaine Patti at St. Anthony’s Church in Red Bank, the same parish in which he was raised and now raises his own family. The Molly Pitcher Inn, site of their wedding celebration and many anniversary dinners in the decades that followed, was also the setting for their first kiss as husband and wife.
Vinnie began his nearly thirty-year career with the New Jersey State Police in 1970 and retired as a Sergeant First Class. He enjoyed his time with the State Police’s Educational Services Unit the most, despite doing a wide variety of assignments (including undercover narcotics and trooper protection at the Garden State Arts Center, now PNC) and making friends with countless celebrity acts. Over the course of several years, he traveled all over New Jersey to speak to schoolchildren about preventing gun violence, putting out fires, and educating them about the dangers of drugs. When school was out for the summer, he and the ESU were on duty as security and traffic controllers at Monmouth Park Racetrack. While serving with the ESU of the New Jersey State Police, he spent a week a year at Rider College (now Rider University), where the American Legion Jersey Boys State held their annual mock government. And it was during this week every year that Vinnie played clarinet with the Jersey Boys State Band.