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The Teaneck-born LeFebvre, of Land O' Lakes, Fla., died Saturday. He was 60.
“Tom ran my mother and brother’s pizzeria like it was his own,” Vincent Charles Mafaro posted on Facebook Sunday. “His integrity, his honesty was more than you could expect from a stranger coming into a family business.”
The affable LeFebvre trained generations of people who worked at Angelo’s, which was started by Angelo and Mary Mafaro more than 50 years ago.
Those he mentored included Janice Loesner, who first worked at the pizzeria in October 1995.
“Tom taught me everything. I was an 18-year-old kid when I came here. I’ve been here now, on and off, for 20 years,” Loesner recalled. “He was a very, very nice man. He was a staple.”
LeFebvre started in the handyman business with Mafaro, according to his Facebook post.
In 2002 LeFebvre moved to Florida, where he started his own business, Around Your Home, LLC.
Yet to this day, Loesner said, customers still ask about him at the Maywood pizzeria.
LeFebvre's son, Lenn LeFebvre, said Monday the grief was still so fresh but he has wonderful memories of his father.
"He set a great example for all of us," he said. "He was special and the most special thing about him was that he didn't think he was special. That was just who he was - a unique individual in all the right ways."
Now, he said, he is remembering the best times - the fact his father was always his biggest fan and that, even in adulthood, he never failed to be there for his children with loving guidance and advice.
The young LeFebvre said that his dad loved his job at Angelo's and that, at one point in the 1990s, he'd joked, "I could quit and become mayor of this town."
"Because of my dad, I take extra special care of my pizza man in my town of Denville. I see a lot of my dad in this guy," he said. "I make sure I give him a great Christmas gift every year and we always have great conversations. He just reminds me of how my dad was at the pizzeria."
LeFebvre is survived by his wife of 40 years, Linda; daughter, Leanne Le Febvre; two sons, Lenn and wife Kara, Tim and fiancée Ashley; brother, David and wife Dorothy; nephew, Teddy; grandson, Patrick; and his two best girls, Nikita and Misha, and granddogs.
A private family celebration of life will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in LeFebvre's memory to www.cares4pets.net or www.kathisk9s.org.
Loyless Funeral Homes in Tampa, Fla. has posted a page on which loved ones can leave messages of sympathy and support.
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