Raymonde Sayegh, Paterson mayor’s mother, dies at 85
Called ‘second mother’ by head of school board
PATERSON – Raymonde Sayegh, who drove a school bus for 40 years as her oldest son grew up to become mayor of New Jersey’s third-largest city, died Wednesday after an extended illness. She was 85.
“I lost my mother this morning but I will never lose her love,” Mayor Andre Sayegh posted on Facebook.
The mayor’s parents were estranged, and he often spoke glowingly of his mother’s sacrifices and dedication for him and his younger brother, Aldo, who is 47.
Raymonde Sayegh, an immigrant from Syria, had been living in a nursing home in recent years as she suffered from dementia. She attended her son’s 2018 swearing-in ceremony, where the two of them engaged in an emotional embrace.
Paterson Board of Education President Manny Martinez, one of the Sayegh brothers’ longtime friends, described Raymonde as a “second mother” for the boys in their group.
“She sheltered us, she cared for us, she loved us like her own,” Martinez said, recalling the succulent Middle Eastern dishes she would serve her sons’ friends.
But Raymonde Sayegh didn’t coddle the boys, Martinez said. “When she had to get tough, she got tough,” he recalled.
Her willingness to impose discipline earned her a nickname, Martinez said.
“We called her the Shammer,” he recalled, saying he thinks the boys came up with the name because it rhymed with “hammer.”
The wake is scheduled for Friday from 3 to 6:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Armenian Catholic Church at 155 Long Hill Road in Little Falls.
It will be immediately followed by “a celebration of life.”