Neal Bhatia

TRIBUTE TO NEAL BHATIA
BORN NOV. 14TH, 1989 (WHITE PLAINS, NY)
PARENTS: ANIL AND ANITA STEPMOM: SUSHMA

RESIDED: NEW YORK, AND NJ
LAST PLACE OF RESIDENCE: JERSEY CITY, NJ
DATE OF PASSING: APRIL 6TH, 2025 (35YRS. OF AGE)

We lost our pride and joy, our Son, Neal, at the prime of his life, just 35 years of age. Too soon, too soon, we say!! How can it be, we ask, shocked and saddened, beyond belief?

Neal exemplified the best qualities any individual can possess, namely: thoughtfulness, kindness, affection, gentleness, and generosity. We and everyone who encountered him, whether for a short or long time, were touched by those great character traits. Our son had the purest of souls. He lived, spoke and acted with only the best intentions, always. The word that first comes to Mom’s mind to describe Neal is “sweet”. Momma called him her “Sweet, Sweet, Baby Neal” along with other nicknames, namely Leaner, Nilly, Nil, Lean-A, and Linzer. He never complained about the nicknames, although surprisingly he never ever complained about anything.

Our son was very proficient with numbers, a skill he acquired from his dad, who excelled at working with numbers. This was well displayed when Neal watched tv sports, either with his dad and stepmom, or with Mom. He was so quick, doing the play by play, interpreting statistics, and offering analysis, one or more seconds ahead of the pros. There were many times when they literally used Neal’s words.

Watching sports will never be as enjoyable without Neal. We will all miss his boisterous enthusiasm: shouting, cheering, and occasionally groaning with disgust at a miscalled play. He even taught Sushma, introducing her to teams and players, player averages and team statistics, with patience and love, so that she enjoyed learning and made great progress.

Dad really believed Neal would have made a great tv sports commentator. Dad says watching games will never be the same, again. First, he’ll probably shed a tear or two; it will be bittersweet, but then he’ll smile, especially remembering nights like in 1996 when Neal and Dad went to see the New York Yankees final World Series Championship winning game. The atmosphere in the stadium was electric. Neal and dad were overjoyed; one of their most cherished, shared memories.

Mom was surprised by his thoughtfulness, for example, one day she was sitting doing something, when suddenly one of her favorite smooth jazz tunes starts to play from the stereo. It was sweet Neal who thought to start the song to bring a smile to Mom’s face. How did he even remember that was one of her best loved songs? He had made a mental note of it, and where it was in a playlist.

There were times Neal would exaggeratedly and hilariously, impersonate Mom, especially the way she was on certain days when she was having hormonal issues! He also told some outrageously funny jokes/stories, which had Mom in stitches. For instance, he told the real story of his 2nd grade teacher at a Catholic private school, who shockingly said something profane under her breath, to no one in particular, when her big stack of papers went flying. It’s the way he told the story that made it amusing.

Another example of his fabulous wit and storytelling skills was when he described a substitute teacher in middle school, who proceeded to tell the kids his whole miserable life story, ending it with how he was suffering having to substitute teach for which he was way overqualified. Mom was tired, taking a break on her bed, when Neal made it a point to lie down next to her and start this silly story. He made it very funny. Then there were tales of the family of friends, who had multiple children of driving age, way more cars than family members, and not enough parking spaces at
their home.

He had Mom trying to catch her breath from laughing so hard, as he described the “musical cars” game being played by that family all day and every day, trying to get in and out of the driveway and the area surrounding it. Just an ordinary story told very creatively by Neal, for maximum effect.

Mom loved her times with Neal at the U.S. Open, where they saw Carolyn Wosniacki, Novak Djokovic, the Indian men’s doubles partners, and in NJ, when they saw John McEnroe play the most comically entertaining mixed doubles game against Boris Becker. Neal loved playing and watching tennis: his favorite players were Sampras, Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic. Mom remembers enjoying Sampras’ and Federer’s last games before retiring, on tv with Neal. Mom and Neal also went to see the NY Rangers, since they both had a very strong love of hockey. Basically, Neal and Mom watched a lot of sports together, including enjoying NY Giants football, and Yankees baseball.

Neal played a lot of tennis throughout his life; especially enjoyed playing with his dad, and on the Junior Varsity team in high school. He also showed his athleticism during cross-country running. As a child, Neal engaged in many sports: basketball, baseball, gymnastics, tennis, golf and more, but he was thrilled to even simply throw a frisbee or ball with Mom or friends, or to just practice batting.

Mom remembers the many times he played video games with his friends, all of them screaming at the top of their lungs, excitedly piled up close to the older, tinier tv, many years ago, all on one couch to be closer to the tv, jumping excitedly as they played.

Neal loved playing Angry Birds, Super Mario, and Zelda. Unfortunately, one day, Mom was vacuuming, and somehow the vacuum gobbled up some Playstation wires and/or parts. Whatever happened, Neal’s Playstation and Zelda game went kaput. He lost all his saved games and lost his progress through various levels. First, he was quite upset, Mom suggested she could buy a new console, but then he quickly said it was not necessary. From then on, though, Neal made it a point to carefully guard precious belongings from Mom’s clumsy hands!

Dad and Sushma, decided to rely on Neal as their human GPS navigator on road trips. Who needed a machine? -- when Neal could factor in the speed of travel, distance to travel, visualize mentally and estimate the number of traffic lights in his head, to arrive at pretty accurate times of arrival.

Neal was an Honors’ student, scoring near perfect GPAs. Mom remembers when he got a perfect score on the AP Calculus standardized exam. Neal was not fazed one bit. Mom was all smiles, congratulating him, but Neal had a quiet confidence and was not surprised, at all. At college, Neal graduated with a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Finance. His jobs were in the financial field, requiring skills in data analytics.

An example of how down-to-earth Neal was, is when Neal, Dad and Sushma traveled to Spain. Among magnificent cathedrals and famous museums, what made Neal the happiest is when he sighted a McDonald’s; that made his day. Never mind fancy foods, Neal relished 4-cheese pizzas and chicken nuggets.

Dear Son, Neal, we pray that God keeps you safe and near to him. May your soul be eternally free, peaceful and blissful. You added so much joy to our lives in your 35 years; those years are certain to be our best years. We will miss you every day and are looking ahead to meeting once again. Our hearts are overflowing with love and appreciation for you, dear Neal. ~Sushma, Dad, and Mom

Visitation is Saturday, April 12, 2025 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Riotto Funeral Home & Cremation Company, 3205 Kennedy Blvd. Jersey City, NJ 07306.  (For GPS navigation, it is best to use our parking lot address: 14 Stagg Street). Puja services and cremation will be private.