Stephanie Parze's Father Will Tell Her Domestic Violence Story At Brookdale

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The father of a former Brookdale Community College student who lost her life to domestic violence will speak about the issue at the campus on April 15.

Ed Parze, founder of the Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation, was invited to campus as part of a class project by students at the college.

The foundation is named for his daughter, the Freehold Township woman who was killed at Halloween 2019 at the age of 25 by an ex-boyfriend, who later killed himself. Stephanie Parze was missing for three months before being found in January 2020 through a major community and law enforcement effort.

The Parze family formed the foundation to support victims of domestic violence and their families and to create response teams that are ready to help local authorities conduct searches in missing persons cases. And Parze said he has held programs at the campus before — all to raise awareness of the threat of domestic violence.

Student Alan Ramirez of Hazlet explained that he and fellow students in a public relations class were asked to create an event that would bring awareness to an important topic.

About 1 in 5 college students say they have been abused by an intimate partner, and nearly a third admit to having committed assault against their partner at some time in the previous year, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Women are at a higher risk.

The Brookdale event will run from noon to 3 p.m. on Monday, April 15, at the upper level of the Student Life Center patio.

A bake sale will be held as part of the event, with all proceeds going directly to the foundation, Ramirez said. He said the event is free of charge.

Parze's presentation will take place from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Stephanie Nicole Parze was "a beautiful, caring, 25-year old woman ... a student athlete, a talented artist, and a compassionate, loyal friend to everyone she met," the foundation says.

It notes that her parents learned through their experience "of the epidemic that is domestic violence firsthand."

You can learn more at the foundation's website www.snpfoundation.org, and you can read more about initiatives by the foundation in this past Patch article.