Louise (Cairoli) DePiro of Cedar Grove, a former longtime resident of Montclair who owned the Little Boutique gift shop in Watchung Plaza for 25 years, died peacefully in her sleep of vascular dementia on April 14, 2023. She was 83.
Born in Newark in 1939, Mrs. DePiro graduated from Belleville High School in 1957, attended Caldwell University (formerly Caldwell College for Women) and graduated from Seton Hall University’s School of Education in 1961. In the 1990s, she furthered her education by completing work toward a master’s in patient advocacy at Sarah Lawrence College.
She married Robert L. DePiro in 1960 and lived most of her adult life in Montclair and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Mrs. DePiro was a math teacher and a volunteer with a GED program in Newark, helping young women receive their high school equivalency. She helped new mothers and gift-givers of all ages as owner of the Little Boutique in Watchung Plaza for 25 years.
Always a teacher, Louise was also a golfer, avid reader, brilliant debater, accomplished cook and lifelong Yankees fan; she will be most remembered for her remarkable curiosity and intelligence.
She loved to travel and made annual visits to Italy, where she pursued one of her passions: researching her paternal connections to the Risorgimento (unification of Italy) for a book that she left unfinished due to her dementia.
Mrs. DePiro is survived by her husband, Robert; children, Sally A. DePiro, Robert F. DePiro and Valerie E. DePiro; grandson, Ian James Berman; brother-in-law, Ronald DePiro; sisters-in-law, Jerri Ann DePiro and Lena DePiro, and nephews and nieces, Matthew Gutknecht, Amanda Gutknecht, Br. James DePiro, Marie (DePiro) Hardenberg, David DePiro, Joseph DePiro, Sheri Ann (DePiro) Norton, Ronald DePiro Jr. and Gina (DePiro) Condorelli.
She was predeceased by her mother, Marie Tartaglia Cairoli; father, Fred M. Cairoli; sister, Angela (Cairoli) Gutknecht, and brother-in-law, Jim DePiro.
Burial was private. A celebration of her life will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to Hospice of New Jersey, 400 Broadacres Drive, First Floor, Bloomfield, NJ 07003, hospiceofnewjersey.com, or the Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association Foundation, Inc., STEM Scholarship, 49 Knollwood Road, Elmsford, New York 10523, wmga.com.
For online condolences please visit the Hugh M. Moriarty Funeral Home website, moriartyfh.com.