Julius J. Lambiase's Obituary
Julius J. Lambiase – “Jules” passed away peacefully, in his home, early morning on Thursday, September 21st, 2017, surrounded by the love and support of his devoted wife of 61 years, Johanna “Joanie” and his many loved ones. He was born on March 28, 1922 and lived a full life of 95 years, loving and entertaining his large family and close friends with his music and humor.He is survived by his wife, Joan and his five adult children, Gary, John, Lorraine, Marie and Deborah, their spouses and children — his beloved grand and great-grandchildren.Jules was born to John and Maria Pinto Lambiase in Manhattan and lived in the heart of Little Italy until age 5. His family moved to the Bronx where he spent most of his early years. As a student, he excelled in Spelling, Math and Track and always loved to learn. Julie, as his mom called him, was quite religious and was even an altar boy for a time at his Catholic church. He would later be sure that his five kids never missed Sunday mass. At an early age, he showed signs of his gift for music, when he participated in many of the school plays. He loved to sing. He was self-taught on the guitar, upright and piano. To quote Jules: “I was young when I started ‘banging on the keys’ and I always wanted to be a singer.” He attended JuIlliard on a GI bill after he served in WW2. Jules had quite a music career, performing in music contests with the likes of Steve Lawrence and cutting 5-6 albums as Russ Landi (one of his stage names) and the Fred Norman’s orchestra in the early 1950s under the Crescent record label. He used a variety of stage names, Russ Landi, after singer Russ Columbo, and Jules Landi. But supporting his family came first as he worked hard to make it in the music industry.Jules married his wife, Joan, on October 21, 1956 and shortly thereafter started growing their family. Jules met Joanie at the first floor of the projects where she liked to “hang out”. He somehow “arranged” to be there to meet her by chance. When they got married they moved into a tiny apartment in the Bronx until they were able to buy a house on Strang Avenue, also in the Bronx in 1959. They lived there for almost 20 years. Jules would tell the story of how they had five kids in six years with great pride. According to Joanie, “Jules was good husband material, even though he was older, he was not set in his ways, and he was mature”.His maturity pushed him to work hard his entire life. Jules was a newsboy with his brother Anthony at newsstands from when he was only 10-14 years old. At 16, with a workers permit, he became delivery boy. He later worked for Western Union and RCA delivering telegrams. After that he held several factory positions. He instilled a strong sense of hard work and planning for the future in his children. He was a strong believer in insurance: be it car, life, appliance, house, and medical. If a warranty was offered, he bought it! He changed his oil on the car every 3000 miles like clockwork…it was just his way of taking care of things.For 27 years, Jules was a letter carrier for the United States Post Office by day and a band leader by night. He sang and played the upright bass in a trio performing wedding gigs on weekends. At nearly 60 years old, he retired and took the family across country — ala the Beverly Hillbillies. Jules and Joanie had attended their nephew Frankie’s wedding in the Bay Area, and after surviving the snow, sleet, rain, and humid summers of New York, thought he was in heaven. Upon their return to New York, Jules let the Lambiase family know they were destined for sunny California. He relocated his entire family to Fremont, California in the 80’s. He loved the weather, the water and the ocean waves and even bought a house with a pool that he enjoyed very much.Jules loved both playing and watching baseball and passed that love on to his family. He enjoyed playing ball in his youth at Pelham Parkway and faithfully brought his sons to their Little League baseball games so he could watch and support them. As a result of his passion for baseball, his children and grandchildren continue to play baseball/softball in local leagues. His favorite childhood team was the Yankees and he got to watch Joe DiMaggio play. He later cheered for the Mets. After moving to California he continued being a loyal fan, but his new love was the Giants. He loved to bet on the games and got a kick out of riding the wave with the Giants the past few years; he was known to place a little wager on the World Series and enjoyed winning!He also loved betting on the horses, partly because he loved the beauty of horses and their movement, and partly because he loved to gamble. In fact he collected horses; his favorite piece was from Venice, a Murano standing black horse. Later he especially enjoyed playing video poker machines. Jules was eager to go to Cache Creek, Thunder Valley, Graton, and was even a “Preferred Client” at Harrah’s in Tahoe. He hit a couple of “big ones” as he would often tell everyone.After retirement, Jules kept himself busy by working part time delivering real estate documents and enjoying the beautiful California weather. He continued with his passion for music by playing with a band that performed all over the Tri-Valley area for senior centers and halls. He loved Karaoke and sang right up to the age of 93 at Bosco’s, Whiskey Town and other venues. He had quite a following. Some of his favorite songs to sing were: You’ll Never Know Just How Much I Love You, All of Me, Sweet Lorraine, Laura, Return to Sorrento, and Because of You.Jules loved music, singing, baseball, gambling, horses, telling jokes, pandas, the ocean and good food. He loved music on the weekends with Joe and Nick, and his favorite thing was Sunday dinners at home. Spaghetti and meatballs, a good baseball game and cold beer…(later in life it became a cold O’Douls). Oh but of course, a Cannoli for dessert. But most of all he loved his family. Thanks to all that shared your memories of Jules’ past. A beautiful life and story. Viewing and celebration of life will be this Sunday, October 1st, 2017. See ‘Service Details’.
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