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Toward that end, Laura Padilla has launched a GoFundMe campaign.
Castronova, 44, died unexpectedly at her home in Allendale on Feb. 8, apparently as the result of a medical condition, those who knew her said.
The Hackensack-born-and-bred Heather Cumming served in the Marines in Okinawa, Japan, as well as at Twenty Nine Palms, CA and Quantico, VA.
She began a public service career locally as a dispatcher with the now-defunct Bergen County Police Department before completing the county police academy and becoming an officer in Washington Township.
Caring for the community expressed itself in the street-smart officer’s work with youngsters and domestic violence survivors, as well as through her assignments in community policing -- even by serving as her department’s de facto public information officer.
Castronova, who retired as a detective in 2020, was a driving force behind a group of female officers who raised money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer.
Working with Old Tappan Officer Katie Weaver, Castronova signed up female officers for their "Ladies in Blue Fighting In Pink" initiative not just from in and around Bergen but also from Parsippany, Newark, on the Rutgers-Newark campus and from within the NYPD.
"Heather was kind and compassionate and would help anyone in need,” Padilla wrote. “Her passing will leave an unimaginable void in the lives of her friends and family.”
No one has been more devastated, she added, than Gina and AJ Castronova, whose father, Anthony, is a police officer in Paterson.
All proceeds from the fundraiser “will go to supporting [them] now and in the future,” Padilla promised.
GO TO: In Memory Of Heather (GoFundMe)
A celebration of Castronova’s life will be held at Becker Funeral Home, 219 Kinderkamack Road in Westwood, from 11 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Feb. 21. That will be followed by a procession to George Washington Cemetery, 234 Paramus Road, Paramus, for interment.
Visiting hours at Becker are from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Donations may be made in lieu of flowers to VFW Post 6192.
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