Skip to content
Obituaries
Link copied to clipboard

Albert Ferrante, 79, Camden barber for decades

He started when Camden was a booming city. He stayed for decades, through tough economic times, and always believing the city would rebound.

Albert Ferrante with stylist Lucy Jimenez in 2012.
Albert Ferrante with stylist Lucy Jimenez in 2012.Read moreRichard Kauffman

Albert W. Ferrante gave his heart and soul to his Camden barbershop, a business that boomed in good times and endured through the decades even as other merchants pulled out as the city's economy declined.

Mr. Ferrante's wife said the barbershop, named after his father, Vincent, was his real love. Mr. Ferrante's son said his father always believed the city would rebound. For his dedication, Mr. Ferrante is in Camden's Hall of Fame, which includes those most loyal to the city.

On Friday, July 7, Mr. Ferrante, 79, died from an injury suffered in a fall last week, said his wife, Linda. Although he had slowed down, he never retired. He spent less time at the shop but still made house calls. Clients also visited his Haddon Heights home to get their hair cut, including a local judge and a priest who was scheduled for a cut the day Mr. Ferrante died, his family said.

"He was a pillar in the community because he always refused to leave and he was always trying to make Camden better," said son Richard. "He was very dedicated and very professional."

His wife recalled the story about Camden's racial riots in the late 1960s or early '70s when Mr. Ferrante and his father — who bought the Market Street business in 1912 — guarded the shop as looters busted through other storefronts. Mr. Ferrante knew many of those rioting and asked that they spare his shop.

"They said, 'OK, Mr. Ferrante, for you and your father,' " his wife said.

Mr. Ferrante started training with his father at a young age, he told Inquirer columnist Kevin Riordan in 2012.

"I was about 10 when my dad started to teach me," Mr. Ferrante said. "It was a professional barbershop, and the rules were very strict. There was no bawdy talk. He would ask you to leave. And if you took a number, if you gambled, you were fired on the spot."

By the 1950s, he was working full-time at the shop. One time, Mr. Ferrante received a $100 tip from millionaire W. Stewart Hollingshead.

"I was fast, and I was good. … I won some prizes for my flattops," Mr. Ferrante said in 2012. "We had a lot of politicians, CEOs, doctors, lawyers, priests in here. I used to cut Mayor [George] Brunner's hair."

When the business changed in the 1970s, Mr. Ferrante attended conferences and went to school to be trained as a stylist, his son said. He kept the front of the store a traditional barbershop and put the salon in the back. Several years ago, stylist Lucy Jimenez began renting the storefront as Mr. Ferrante reduced his hours.

He thought highly of her, and she thought highly of him.

"He was a sociable man. He loved life," Jimenez said. "He was very giving, very generous — maybe too generous — and very peaceful."

Mr. Ferrante found the kindness in others and helped family, friends, and strangers. He cooked large meals on Sundays, often inviting those from church to join his family in the afternoons.

"There were always strangers at the table. It made Sundays really fun," Richard Ferrante said. "My dad always helped people who were almost beyond help."

Before he moved to Haddon Heights, Mr. Ferrante's family lived in an apartment behind the barbershop. Later, he would allow those who needed a home to live free in the apartment until they could make it on their own.

Among his contributions to the city, Mr. Ferrante sponsored the first Boy Scout troop in Camden for African American children, his son said. He was a Scout leader and master.

Mr. Ferrante loved cooking. He made large meals at Fort Dix when he was in the Army Reserve during the Vietnam War. He later helped serve breakfast and dinners at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Camden, where he was a warden and vestryman.

In his spare time, Mr. Ferrante was an amateur sculptor and painter. He loved the arts, his son said, often taking his family to visit museums in Philadelphia and New York. He also loved music, classical and blue grass, his son said.

Mr. Ferrante was preceded in death by his former wife, Anne, in 2009.

In addition to his second wife of 27 years and his son Richard, Mr. Ferrante is survived by two other sons, Anthony Putz and Gary Joseph, three grandchildren, and a brother.

Visitation will be Thursday, July 13, from 10 to 11 a.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 422 Market St., Camden. A Requiem Eucharist Mass will follow. Interment is private.

Contributions may be made in Mr. Ferrante's memory to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Box 1551, Camden, N.J. 08101.

Condolences may be posted on the website for Gaskill-Brown Funeral Home, wwwgaskillbrown.com.