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Visiting hours are from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Vander Platt-Caggiano Funeral Home at 13-31 Saddle River Road in Fair Lawn, (201) 797-3500.
Thursday's 10 a.m. funeral will be at Our Lady of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Ridgewood.
Burial will follow in George Washington Cemetery in Paramus.
"If someone asked 100 different people to describe you," good friend Ryan Ward wrote in tribute, "I can guarantee somewhere in each of their responses, you’d find the word 'heart' (and for good reason). You were all heart. If there was something you could do for someone, you’d drop everything and lend a hand."
Ward went on:
"I remember you called me one day just to say 'Hey kid! You doing alright? You don’t seem like yourself lately.'Later in the same conversation, once you knew I was OK, you casually mentioned that you found out you may be battling cancer.
"You were about to start fighting a battle most would never endure, but that day, your biggest concern was how your friend was doing....That’s the type of person you were. Maybe that’s why people migrated to you. It was more than your contagious, fun-loving personality. It was that giant heart and selflessness that’s unfortunately quite uncommon."
"Officer Emerson was clearly respected throughout Bergen County and among his peers at the BCSO," Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton said. "He was a kindhearted individual who volunteered himself to giving back to the community. We will miss him dearly and we pray for his family during this difficult time."
Born in Teaneck, Emerson was raised in North Bergen and Fair Lawn, where he'd lived since he was 13.
The 8-year Sheriff's Department veteran was a member of NJ PBA Local 134 and Knights of Columbus St. Ann Council Post 2853 of Fair Lawn.
The Fair Lawn High School graduate, who played and coached football, retired in July after sustaining several injuries in a crash while en route to an overdose call.
He is survived by his mother and father, Kathleen (Shea) and Scott Emerson, Sr., his brothers Luke and Ryan (and wife Jackie), sisters Krystal Horwath (and husband Steve) and Brianna Gannitello (and husband Joseph), among others.
Emerson “wasn’t feeling well, and they called an ambulance," a colleague said Sunday. He may have suffered an infection following recent surgery, other friends said.
Emerson hung tough throughout the day on Saturday -- as family, friends and colleagues gathered at the hospital -- before he passed away, one said.
"They brought him back several times," a friend said. "Then they couldn't. He went on his own."
Those who'd seen him beat cancer several years ago were devastated by Emerson's death.
"Whether you walked into the locker room at work, courtroom, police car, hospital , or dinner you made people laugh," a friend wrote in tribute.
"Guy would give anyone the shirt off his back," another said.
"I remember teaching him at the [police] academy," former Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward said. "Great sense of humor only matched by the size of his heart."
NOTE: In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Scott to NJ PBA Local 134, 10 Main Street, Hackensack, NJ 07601 would be appreciated.
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