The Edison Job Corps Academy held a memorial service for their former director Lee Mathews, who passed away on Nov. 29. More photos at www.gmnews.com. JEFF GRANIT staff EDISON — Lee Mathews, director of the Edison Job Corps Academy, passed away on Nov. 29 at the age of 57 after a prolonged bout with stomach cancer.
On Dec. 4 about 500 people, including current and former students and co-workers, came out to attend a memorial service for Mathews at the academy.
“It is still a shock that he’s no longer here with us,” said Monica Pankiewicz, business community liaison for the Job Corps Academy, who worked closely with Mathews for the past two years. “He was more than a supervisor to me; he was truly a great mentor. He was there at all hours for everybody, staff and students alike.”
Mathews worked for the Edison Job Corps Academy since 1995 and, according to Olga Carrillo, a graphic artist and volunteer coordinator for the academy for 13 years, he worked very hard to make changes, all for the betterment of the students who came through the doors at 500 Plainfield Ave.
The Edison Job Corps Academy held a memorial service for their former director Lee Mathews, who passed away on Nov. 29. Students join hands during a prayer. Left: Michael Mathews, son of Mathews, collects himself during the service. PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff “He wanted it to almost be like a college campus,” Carrillo explained. “He was well known across the country, and so many students from all over have reached out to us since they heard about his passing. People from Texas, Chicago, Virginia, there are so many former students out there who were impacted by Lee.
One of those former students is LeighAnne Boyd, who now resides in Virginia Beach, Va., and is now in the process of publishing her second book.
“I was deeply saddened to hear the news about Mr. Mathews,” Boyd said. “He was a very special and upstanding individual, and there will be no other like him.”
Another student, Uri Perez, said that because of Mathews, she “became very independent and had the motivation to continue with my goals of exploring all the opportunities that we have in life.”
Before coming to Edison, Mathews was the director of the South Bronx Job Corps Center, which has been nationally recognized as a model inner-city center. The center was awarded “Best Center” three times by the regional office of the U.S. Department of Labor and received numerous national awards for excellence.
“It is very sad what happened to Lee Mathews,” Carrillo said. “He really was my friend and family member, especially after having worked with him for so long. We traveled together for so many projects, and he was a great guy who touched so many lives.”
Among the places he traveled was Atlantic City, where even after one intense session of chemotherapy to help combat his illness, he still drove two hours to be present for an off-site meeting.
“People were surprised to even see him there that day,” Pankiewicz said. “He was extremely dedicated to his job.”
Among the many other co-workers who cherished their time working with Mathews is Marianne Arkush, deputy director for the Edison Job Corps Academy.
“When I first started working here, I really didn’t know much about Job Corps, quite honestly,” Arkush said. “Previously, I had been involved with marketing. Still, he saw something in me, I guess, and he also saw the big picture of what the goals were at the academy. He was such a smart person, and when he hired people, he really knew how to size them up and tried to figure out what kind of role they’d be able to play within the organization.”
Arkush said that even right up to the end, Mathews was very involved, even taking the time to call her to see how things were going at the academy and with the students.
“He was in and out of the office for the last few months, and he worked from home a lot,” Arkush said, “and that’s the sign of a true leader. He never gave up. He touched a lot of people’s lives, and he will be missed.”