Frank Joseph LaBate, Jr.

Frank J. LaBate, Jr., beloved husband, father, brother and friend,  went home to God on August 17, 2016 at the age of 61. Frank had had multiple strokes, one of which left him bedridden for the past 3 1/2 years.  

He is survived by his wife, Patricia LaBate, children Leonardo LaBate and Chelsea LaBate, sisters Cheri Berardi, Christina Gatto and Carolyn Rosenfeld, and brother Joseph LaBate.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Frank J. LaBate and Venie Petti LaBate of Louisiana and New Jersey.  Frank was born on December 7th, 1954 in Newark, New Jersey.  He spent his childhood in Newark and Clifton, NJ, moving to Florida for vocational/technical school for architectural drafting after high school.  With scrappy determination, he was successful in his career as a design engineer, working in Africa's Ivory Coast and then as an electronics design engineer for Motorola and Siemen, all the while pursuing his second vocation as a talended photographer.  Frank was an inventive visionary and out-of-the box thinker who registered a patent for printed circuit board design.  He was much loved for his uniqueness and sense of humor.  Personal difficulties and health issued caused him to file for long-term disability at the age of  46 and he devoted the next 13 years to caring for Leonardo, picking him up at school daily, and taking Leonardo and his friends to the beach and park.  His passion during these years was kites, making them, attending kite shows and travelling to Kitty Hawk's kite museum with Leonardo.
 

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