Pat Zinn Nigara Obituary (1947 - 2026)

Patricia “Pat” Karen Nigara (nee Zinn), resident of Summit, New Jersey, died in the early morning at her home on January 17, 2026. Daughter of Lillian (nee Widmayer) and Eugene Zinn, granddaughter of Ellen “Rita” Virgil (nee O’Hara) and Nicholas Virgil, Pat was born on June 30, 1947, in Irvington, New Jersey and graduated in 1965 from West Orange High School. Later that year she was honored to be presented as a debutante. Her love for her children, Mark, Matt, and Bethany; for her grandchild, Isabella; and for her dogs, Petie, Edie, and Chops was the wellspring for her love of life. She had beauty, class, and intelligence and could be a force of nature. She was riotously funny, possessing an antic spirit that was equal parts playful, whimsical, and absurdist. Those traits drew people to her, driving and developing myriad friendships and a varied range of interests. A passionate student of archaeology and anthropology, Pat studied at Montclair State University and participated in Lenni-Lenape archaeological digs throughout New Jersey, cultivating a lifelong passion for Mesoamerican and Pre-Columbian civilizations. She also grew fascinated by and read widely in ancient Etruscan art and culture. In the early 1990s she volunteered for several years as a docent at the Morris Museum. She was also an extraordinarily skilled baker and cook, an avid reader and devourer of books and audiobooks, a capacious music lover, and an obsessive viewer of PBS and British TV, especially Masterpiece Theatre. Pat traveled throughout America, Canada, and Europe, often with her children. Travel to Italy, especially, and to beaches, regularly, from the Jersey Shore to Malibu animated and revitalized her. Pat lived and worked all over New Jersey: as a homemaker and dental assistant in West Orange; as a dental school teacher at Berdan Institute in Totowa; as a realtor in Forked River; and for two decades as a senior citizen coordinator and library clerk in Verona. She lived for over a decade in Maplewood as well. In her retirement she realized a lifelong dream of moving to the Jersey Shore, where she spent a few years in Toms River. Her wit, kindness, generosity, and vitality touched all who knew her. Pat is survived by her children, Mark Nigara and his wife Karen Levine of Los Angeles, Matt Nigara of Los Angeles and Bethany Nigara and her husband Danny Brockdorf of Morristown, New Jersey; her beloved granddaughter Isabella Rose Haugh; her sister Debra Zinn of Needles, California; her nephew Michael Gilham; her half-siblings Dawn, Jeannie, and Darrell Zinn of Hopatcong; and a host of other relatives and friends. Visiting will be held in the Prout Funeral Home, 370 Bloomfield Ave, Verona, NJ on Friday, January 23 from 10:45 am to 12:45 pm, followed by a service and then inurnment in Hollywood Memorial Park, 1500 Stuyvesant Avenue, Union, New Jersey. In lieu of flowers, the family requests honoring Pat with a donation in her name to the Alzheimer’s Association at (https://donorservices.alz.org). Memories, photos and condolences may be left on her obituary page at www.proutfuneralhome.com.