<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">From Linda Melendez, NFB of NJ President:<div class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-family: arial;" class=""><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: 10pt;" class=""><font size="2" class=""><div id="m_-6594516140174187979yiv9005584563" class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><br class=""><br class=""></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" size="4" class="">Joe Ruffalo, who served us as president for 27 years, died quietly<br class="">early this morning following a multi-year battle with Metastatic<br class="">Bladder cancer related to Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam<br class="">War. Joe had been in hospice care and passed away in the Bloomfield<br class="">house where he grew up. Family members and friends were there to<br class="">comfort him.<br class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" size="4" class="">Joe had shared his journey with us and we send our condolences to<br class="">Joe's wife, Judy, and their sons Jim and Joey and their wives as well<br class="">as sister Jane Degenshein, also a leader in our National Federation<br class="">of the Blind community and her husband Larry as well as other<br class="">relatives and friends.<br class=""><br class="">Funeral arrangements are being finalized and I will share them when<br class="">complete. In the meantime, those who wish to honor Joe's memory may donate to the NFBNJ, the organization he said changed his life and<br class=""></font></div></div></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div id="m_-6594516140174187979yiv9005584563" class=""><br class=""></div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" size="4" class="">which he shared fso generously with us for so many years.</font><div class=""></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" size="4" class=""><br class=""></font></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></font></div></div></div></div></body></html>