Lillian K. Bacardi passed away during the early hours of Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at the Hackensack Meridian/JRK Medical Center in Edison. She was 85.

Lillian K Bacardi peacefully passed away during the morning hours of Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at the Hackensack Meridian/JFK Medical Center in Edison.  She was 85.

Lillian was a native New Yorker. She endured a very troubled childhood, time in an orphanage, and fled to Puerto Rico for a time as a girl.  She managed to survive, doing her best for her six children.  She eventually settled in the Menlo Park Terrace Section of Woodbridge Township with her husband John.  There, she became an integral part of her neighborhood by helping care for and raise many of the neighborhood children. The neighborhood is comprised of multi-generations of families and cultures and Lillian would never turn her back on anyone. No one had to worry about their children if they were in Ms. Lillian's care.

Many of her neighbors and friends have used descriptions of Lillian "as an amazing woman," she had a heart of gold, "she had the kindest soul and biggest heart," "she could cook anything," "to make the understatement of the century; we will miss her." These are just snippets of the love and admiration she shared with everyone whose lives she touched. Her cooking was legendary, especially her yellow rice. Her complicated younger years made her a strong, tough woman, but her willingness to help and care for others was unmatched. It wasn't until she was 80 years old that she learned she had 13 siblings, and was able to meet the only one left surviving for the first time, Nancy.

With the understanding that it isn't blood that makes you family, it's love; Lillian will be missed by not only those who she is related to, but by the endless friends and neighbors she has shared her life with throughout the years.  At the same time, she will be warmly welcomed into heaven by all the family she never had a chance to meet and have gone before her.

There will be a visitation for Lillian on Sunday, March 30, 2025 from 1:00pm - 4:00pm at the Flynn and Son/Mitruska Funeral Home, 23 Ford Ave., Fords, NJ. Cremation will take place privately.