Funeral Services For Middletown Man Who Drowned Off Ortley Beach

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Funeral services for a Middletown man who drowned while swimming off Ortley Beach will be held this Sunday and Monday, Sept. 18 and 19.

Visitation for Matthew Mauro will be from 2-7 p.m. at Costello-Greiner Funeral Home in Woodbridge, followed by a funeral mass at 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. James Roman Catholic Church, also in Woodbridge.

Mauro, 48, died on Wednesday afternoon at Seaside Heights/Ortley Beach, said Toms River Police.

People on the beach reported a swimmer in distress at the beach on Fielder Avenue at 1:55 p.m. Wednesday. While Toms River police were responding, Seaside Heights Beach Patrol units responded on jet skies and brought him to shore, where they began CPR.

He died at Community Medical Center in Toms River.

Mauro graduated from Rutgers, and at the time of his death, he worked as a project manager with EXCEL Environmental Resources, Inc. in North Brunswick for many years. In his obituary, his family asked in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the World Wildlife Fund (worldwildlife.org) or any charitable organization (such as the Arbor Day Organization) with a positive effect on the environment in his memory.

"He would love it if you planted a tree to remember him," they wrote.