Steven Paul Balzano Lebanon, New Jersey Obituary

Steven Paul Balzano

<p>Steven Paul Balzano, age&nbsp;61, of Clinton Twp., NJ passed away on&nbsp;Friday, May 22, 2020 at Kindred Hospital&nbsp;in Dover, NJ.</p> <p>He was born on&nbsp;April 30, 1959 in the Bronx, NY, son of the late Patrick and Providence D&rsquo;Angelo Balzano.&nbsp;&nbsp;He spent his childhood on Long&nbsp;Island&nbsp;with sisters Janet and Julie,&nbsp;graduated from Herrick&rsquo;s High School and then traveled to South Africa exploring and installing telecommunication towers. Upon returning,&nbsp;he attended&nbsp;SUNY&nbsp;Agricultural and Technical College where he earned his Associate&nbsp;in Applied Science while working at a local animal hospital.&nbsp;He then&nbsp;attended and&nbsp;graduated from Syracuse University with his Bachelor Degree in Environmental Science and Forestry.&nbsp;He lived on Cushetunk Mountain with his family in&nbsp;Clinton Twp., NJ since 1999, moving from Newton, NJ.</p> <p>Over the years Steve made significant&nbsp;contributions to the organizations he&nbsp;was a part of.&nbsp;He taught High&nbsp;School Science in Syracuse, NY,&nbsp;then went on&nbsp;to teach in the&nbsp;Department of Education at the Bronx Zoo, later working in the Department of Ornithology&nbsp;where he and&nbsp;his wife&nbsp;met and fell&nbsp;in love.&nbsp;He traveled to remote locations of Southeast Asia surveying for&nbsp;endangered&nbsp;Javen&nbsp;Rhino&nbsp;and&nbsp;Hornbills.&nbsp;His work in conservation biology&nbsp;continued&nbsp;as he relocated to&nbsp;St. Catherine&rsquo;s Island, GA as a Zoologist for New York&nbsp;Zoological&nbsp;Society&rsquo;s Endangered Species Breeding Facility where he was involved&nbsp;with&nbsp;developing&nbsp;critical survival programs for cranes, storks &amp;&nbsp;lemurs&nbsp;and the first&nbsp;recorded hatching of&nbsp;a Maleo in captivity.&nbsp;</p> <p>Steve and Sharon married in 1988 and began their life together filled with many&nbsp;adventures in Mexico, Central &amp;&nbsp;South America and Southeast Asia.&nbsp;Settling in Newton, NJ.&nbsp;Steve worked as an Environmental Consultant for TAMS,&nbsp;then independently&nbsp;as&nbsp;ERS&nbsp;Consultants,&nbsp;and&nbsp;with&nbsp;Amy Greene Environmental Consultants.&nbsp;During that&nbsp;time,&nbsp;he was awarded recognition for his outstanding contributions to the Mission of the U.S.&nbsp;Fish and Wildlife Service for his work.&nbsp;Later moving to Clinton, NJ he worked for&nbsp;Parsons/WSP representing in his projects a&nbsp;continued&nbsp;commitment to environmental planning and stewardship.&nbsp;Steve&nbsp;also&nbsp;directed&nbsp;the&nbsp;foundational&nbsp;science and planning&nbsp;for the&nbsp;Regional Master&nbsp;Plan&nbsp;for the&nbsp;New Jersey Highlands.&nbsp;</p> <p>Steve&rsquo;s vision, leadership and technical innovation&nbsp;were instrumental in the development&nbsp;of theCedar Bonnet Island Habitat Restoration&nbsp;and Management Plan&nbsp;facilitating collaboration between NJDOT, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,&nbsp;NJDEP and U.S. Army Corrps of Engineers resulting in&nbsp;restoration of wetlands and&nbsp;public access to&nbsp;Cedar&nbsp;Bonnet&nbsp;Island&nbsp;for&nbsp;future generations&nbsp;to experience.&nbsp;This project was awarded a FHWA Environmental Excellence Award&nbsp;for outstanding contributions to environmental&nbsp;stewardship above&nbsp;and beyond traditional project outcomes.&nbsp;It&nbsp;exemplifies&nbsp;just&nbsp;one of many of&nbsp;Steve&rsquo;s&nbsp;contributions&nbsp;demonstrating a bridge between science, planning, natural resource conservation&nbsp;and sustainable development.</p> <p>Steven was the&nbsp;loving&nbsp;husband of Sharon&nbsp;Coe, celebrating&nbsp;31&nbsp;years of marriage and proud father of children Brianna and Brendon.&nbsp;He cherished family&nbsp;celebrations,&nbsp;vacation adventures and trips to Little Italy. Celebrating&nbsp;life;&nbsp;holidays, birthdays and graduations, he shared&nbsp;his passion for cooking with the family, he&nbsp;always&nbsp;went the extra mile.&nbsp;Steve had&nbsp;a&nbsp;close-knit group of friends with whom he&nbsp;shared a brotherly bond and great accomplishments.&nbsp;He had a love of his&nbsp;family&nbsp;and community, gardening, exploring, cooking, tropical fish&nbsp;and&nbsp;his&nbsp;beloved dogs Ziva, Ellie and grand-dog Diesel.</p> <p>Steve was&nbsp;a leader, a thinker, a doer.&nbsp;He always tried to find the best path&nbsp;forward, not always the easiest.&nbsp;If you were lucky,&nbsp;you would find yourself beside him&nbsp;to share in the journey,&nbsp;as&nbsp;a partner,&nbsp;a friend,&nbsp;a father,&nbsp;a leader, a mentor.&nbsp;He made the world a better place and will be sadly missed.</p> <p>Due to the current restrictions regarding Coronavirus,&nbsp;a celebration of life will take place at a later date.&nbsp;Arrangements by Scarponi-Bright Funeral Home in Lebanon, NJ.</p> <p>Memorials can be made in Steve&rsquo;s name to the Wildlife Conservation Society by clicking on the link below. &nbsp;Please click on &lsquo;tribute giving&rsquo; and the&nbsp;donation will be designated to Southeast Asian conservation efforts. &nbsp;&nbsp;https://www.wcs.org/support</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>
April 30, 1959 - May 22, 202004/30/195905/22/2020
Share Obituary:

Share a memory

Add to your memory
Photos/Video
Candle
Mementos

Tribute wall

Plant a tree in memory of Steven

An environmentally friendly option
F
Frank Francese
June 1, 2023
We played together as children through our parent’s friendship. Last time we saw each other we might have been 15-16 years old. I’ve only begun my journey to locate old friends and acquaintances. Unfortunately it ends here for us. May you rest in peace my childhood fr... Continue Reading
D
Darren Stanker
June 4, 2020
What a wonderful obituary and tribute to Steve.  It was spot on regarding Steve's love of family, friends and his passion for the environment.  Steve was a close friend and mentor of mine for 20 years.  We had some great work experiences that I will never forget.  
One ...
Continue Reading
T
The Vernarec family
May 28, 2020
In hope that this tree will do it’s part to carry on Steve’s dedication to preserving the environment.
Memorial Tree

Memorial Tree was purchased for the family of Steven Paul Balzano. Send flowers

W
With much love dear friend, Hon. Elaine Emiliani
May 25, 2020
The Balzano Family:
I’m not sure what life would have been like around Greenwich Twp, but I know our town was a better place having had Steve with us to nurture and guide us thru the difficult waters.
Memorial Tree

Memorial Tree was purchased for the family of Steven Paul Balzano. Send flowers