SETTE Louis Frank, born May 17, 1946, stepped out of this life and into life eternal with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at 8:45 AM on Saturday, February 28th, 2015 after more than two years battling leukemia.
Born to an Italian American neighborhood in South Hackensack, New Jersey, Louis graduated from Paramus High School in 1964, where he was proud to be the starting catcher on the baseball team that won the state championship his senior year. He initially attended the University of Notre Dame before transferring and graduating from Seton Hall and later Rutgers' Law School. His life took him on many travels, including working in radio in Greenville, South Carolina and later NBC television in Cleveland, Ohio where he was a news anchor.
Later he opened up his own law practice in New Jersey, was involved in the family business located on Sette Drive in Paramus, New Jersey, and ran for the congressional nomination for the Republican Party in the 5th district in 1992. By far, Lou's pride and joy in life was his 32 year marriage to his loving wife Rosemary, and together they shared countless memories and gave a wonderful life to each other. Lou is survived by his wife, his son Frank, son Mark and daughter in law Jael, sister Patricia and her husband David and their children Daniel and Mariana.
Louis Sette, an attorney who waged a spirited 1992 primary challenge against Republican Rep. Marge S. Roukema, died Saturday at his home in Virginia. He was 68. The cause was leukemia, his family said. Mr. Sette, formerly of Paramus, brought an eclectic resume to his only foray into politics. The Paramus High School and Seton Hall University graduate had been an announcer for radio stations in South Jersey and South Carolina and a news reporter and producer for a television station in Cleveland. He was an assistant Bergen County prosecutor in the 1980s and was also involved in his family's property management business on Sette Drive in Paramus.
During the primary campaign, Sette slammed the moderate Roukema, then seeking her seventh term, as being "so far to the left she's essentially a Democrat. He described himself as a "kitchen table" conservative Republican who favored congressional term limits and looser government regulation on business.
He and the pro-choice congresswoman sparred heatedly over abortion. Mr. Sette and Roukema clashed when they, and two other challengers, appeared before The Record's editorial board. Mr. Sette labeled Roukema a "pro-abortion extremist" and her claims to fiscal conservatism as "mythology." Roukema angrily responded that Mr. Sette was a single-issue candidate advancing the extreme right-to-life positions of a small minority that would like to take over the Republican Party."
Roukema won the primary with 60 percent of the vote. Mr. Sette grabbed a respectable 25 percent. He felt he had Marge on her heels and enjoyed the challenge of running," said Mr. Sette's son, Mark. "He felt it was the right thing to do, based on Marge's beliefs."
Mark Sette added that his father believed the primary challenge helped pave the way for a far more conservative Republican, Scott Garrett, who succeeded the retiring Roukema in 2002. Roukema died in November at 85. Mr. Sette and his family moved to the Lynchburg, Va., area 15 years ago. For a time, Mr. Sette owned a bookstore in Lynchburg.
Athletic Hall of Fame Induction
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Kenny "Tash" Tashian (1964)
Lou Sette was one of the first people I met when in the 4th grade my family moved to New Jersey. I played sports with Lou, was one of his good friends when he lived in his house on Spring Valley Road on the bend just short of Forest Avenue, and spent all seven years at Paramus High School either as his classmate, or in his homeroom.
Lou was one of the good guys, never boastful of his academic or athletic achievements, and admired and respected by all who knew him. He was someone that you knew would be successful in life, and was. Lou will be missed by his friends, family, teammates, and all who had the privilege of knowing him.
Raymond Pompilio (1963)
I'm very sorry to hear of Lou's passing. Although a year older, my connect with him was on a Little League All-Star team with his classmate Jerry Giampetruzzi. Lou was the starting catcher and I was his backup. The difference between us was great. In one tournament game he hit 3 home runs--I jumped to celebrate the 3rd HR and hit my head on the dugout roof frame! After that I was sent in as his replacement--I think we were ahead by about 16-1 by then. I batted once and know I didn't hit a home run. RIP Lou...
Ray Pompilio '63
Jimmy Finch (1964)
Sorry to hear of Lou's passing. He and I were good friends at PHS and were college roomates at Seton Hall. We were in each others weddings and became roomates after becoming single again. I remember going to Cleveland on business and watching Lou on NBC six o'clock news and them meeting him for dinner. Wish we had stayed closer in the past few years. Rest in Peace Lou.
Jim Finch
Henry Randolph Hensel (1963)
A FOUNDING FAMILY HISTORY
The Sette Family moved to Paramus in 1948. Louis Sette Sr. settled his family on Farview Ave. at the corner of Heights Ave. His four children and their families settled nearby along Farview Ave. and Spring Valley Road.
The Sette's were in the excavation and fill-dirt business and were drawn to Paramus by the building boom in the northern part of Bergen County. They bought land on Route 17, across from the Faber cinder block company,and kept their equipment there. The highway was bordered mostly by woods then and wasn't heavily traveled. The Sette boys would sometimes shoot target pistols at tin cans on dirt piles only a few feet from Route 17.
The Sette's trucked sand and gravel from soil quarries that they owned in Old Tappan and Wyckoff to the lowlands for building roadways, hospitals, schools, parking lots and backyards. They built sections of highways and bridges in northern New Jersey and interchanges, such as the one on Century Road, which crosses Route 17 by Behnke's Lumber. They did the site work for Paramus High School and other Paramus schools, and dug the original excavations for the Garden State Plaza.
The growth affected the Sette family in more ways than one. The Garden State Parkway was built in 1957 through the center of the Sette's Route 17 property and un-official shooting range: They had to relocate their construction yard to Midland Ave.
With land values continuing to inflate, the Settes decided that they could put buildings on their land as easily as trucks and dirt piles, so they did - on a little road known as Sette Drive, which still exists today.
Patricia Sette (1969)
Henry Hensel, Thank you for posting this information about my family. It sent me down memory lane ... I appreciate it, and know my brother Lou would have too.
Patricia Sette, '69