LACEY, NJ — “You meet thousands of people and none of them really touch you. Then you meet one person and your life is changed. Forever.”
Jayson Lee Cugliari shared that quote on his Facebook page in the summer of 2017, along with a comment that said, “It represents all you people with loved ones by their side.”
It’s a quote that sums up how others saw him: the kind of person who drew others to him, an old soul who was friendly and who loved those around him, as they mourn the 17-year-old Lacey Township High School senior from the Forked River section.
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Jayson was killed in a motor vehicle crash Dec. 9, according to a GoFundMe campaign created to assist his family with funeral expenses.
“Every time he walked into a room; the atmosphere would brighten with his smile always lighting up the room,” wrote Patty Brescia, who created the campaign.
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Jayson was “living his best life a week ago,” Brescia wrote. “Getting ready for Christmas, working, attending school and feeling proud of himself for getting into the college he wanted to attend. This young man’s life was just beginning.”
Lacey Township police said the crash, reported at 9:19 a.m. Dec. 9, happened on Lacey Road when the car Jayson was driving ran onto the shoulder then came back onto the road and hit a Jeep in the opposite, oncoming lane.
Jayson had been accepted into Stockton University and the Lacey High School senior was working at the Goddard School in Forked River, where he “was adored by the students and the staff,” Brescia wrote.
“Working with children was his passion,” she wrote. “The students excitedly waited for ‘Mr. Jayson’ to arrive each day because they knew that he was a trusted friend and an extraordinarily fun and fascinating playmate!”
Jayson, who is survived by his parents, John and Krystal Cugliari and four siblings —sisters Katelynn and Isabella and brothers John and Kristian — and extended family, was described by his family as an exceptional student and “one of the friendliest people you would have ever met,” according to his obituary on the Riggs Funeral Home website.
“He also had a love for animals and enjoyed spending time with all his family and friends,” the obituary said, which noted he is survived by grandparents Karen and Gary Gassert and John and Gulia Cugliari and many aunts, uncles and cousins.
“Jayson had the warmth of an old soul and boundless energy for shenanigans,” Brescia wrote. “He had such a playful spirit yet he went out of his way to help anyone he could.”
He excelled as a student and was well-rounded, with interests in sports in addition to his love for animals, seen in his posts raising funds for a senior dog rescue.
A funeral service was held Friday. His family is setting up a scholarship fund in Jayson’s memory or was encouraging donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
For those who wish, contributions can be made to the GoFundMe.
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