Jasper "Jay" Thomas Pintacuda

Jasper “Jay” Thomas Pintacuda (81 years old) passed away at his home on September 3, 2026. Jay was born on March 6, 1945, to Grace and Thomas Pintacuda in Brooklyn, New York. He was the grandson of Sicilian/Italian immigrants.

His upbringing was immersed in the culture of his ancestry, and he spent many happy times sharing food, stories and laughter with his many aunts, uncles and cousins. In 1962 just after he graduated from Sheep’s Head Bay High School in Brooklyn, Jay’s parents and his three sisters, Diane, Barbara and Elaine, moved to West Palm Beach, FL where other family members had already relocated.

Jay enrolled in Southern Missionary College, now known as Southern Adventist University, near Chattanooga, TN. After two years, he transferred to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL. He graduated with a double major in Chemistry and Biology in 1966. His first two years after graduating were spent teaching high school science at Lincoln High and then John F. Kennedy High where he was part of an integration program at an all-Black high school. He also taught some classes at Palm Beach Junior College while also working on his master’s degree taking night classes at FAU.

In 1967, Jay married Fern Robichaud and they expanded their family with three children, Tommy, Nicole, and Jayson. In 1969, Jay was recruited by the Palm Beach County Sherriff’s Department to be the Chief Forensic Chemist. Forensic technology was a developing science, and Jay was tasked with building the Palm Beach County crime lab from the ground up. For 17 years he saw the lab grow into a modern forensic facility. He was involved in many high-profile cases, namely the David Kennedy overdose case.

In 1985 Jay and his family moved to Asheville, NC where he accepted a position as a forensic chemist for the North Carolina SBI’s Western Regional Crime Lab. He advanced his position to Chief Chemist while there. He retired from the NCSBI in 2010 and was given the distinguished Long Leaf Pine Award, which is the highest award for state service granted by the Office of the Governor. Jay and Fern divorced in 1989 and soon after, Jay met Lucretia Moore at the Foster SDA church they both were attending.

Two years after meeting Jay and Lucretia were married in the church where they met. They expanded the family when their daughter, Lauren Joy was born in 1996. In his personal life, Jay was very active with sports and enjoyed playing handball, a game he began playing as a child in Brooklyn. He also loved racquetball, tennis, motorcycling, and many other athletic activities. He played handball with a group of men who referred to themselves as the Sweat Hogs – Benny, Bruce, Phil, Ted and others. He also played handball at the downtown Asheville YMCA with a group of men known as the Handball Octogenarians and they were featured in the Handball USA magazine. Oscar Wong, Bob Riddle, Judd Downs, Bruce Mulkey, John Curry, Carl Doby, Stan Melnic, Fred Mascaro from West Palm Beach, were just some of the men he enjoyed countless hours on the court with.

Jay was a passionate Miami Dolphins Fan and had a love/hate relationship with the team. Watching Sunday afternoon games with his sons was a long-established tradition. It was usually accompanied with eating pizza or having pasta with Sunday red sauce. Of course, if there were cannolis to eat that would be the best he could ask for.

He loved gardening and grew an organic garden using his own compost. Being a chemist, he was particular about making a compost tea and tending his compost pile his way. His garden was always overflowing the beds, and the family enjoyed the fruits of his work every summer.

He loved his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and was a regular attender and member of the Foster SDA Church in Asheville, NC. For many years after retirement, he was a regular in the church’s Community Service outreach program.

His greatest joy in life was spending time with his family, his parents, his children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers and sisters-in-law, nieces, aunts, uncles and cousins. Eating the homemade Italian dishes together with family at holidays brought immense joy. He also loved his wife Lucretia’s family and their garden produce meals. He liked talking shop with his brothers-in-law and helping them with their many farming or tree cutting projects. Family was everything to him and he was filled with pride in his children’s and grandchildren’s accomplishments.

He is survived by his wife Lucretia and their daughter Lauren; his first wife Fern Robichaud and their three children, Tommy, Nicole (Stephen) and their three children, Sofia, Sydnie, Stephen, Jayson (Jordan) and their two daughters Gia and Anna; his sister Barbara (Blake) and daughter Romina Davidson (Paul); his sister Elaine and her daughter Marisa (Remo) and their two daughters Grace and Remi; his niece Gina Balcom (Tom) and their daughter Ashley, his best friend and cousin David Vega (Darlene); and many cousins. He is preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Grace Pintacuda; his sister Diane and her husband Pat Rizzi; his brother-in-law Jeff Hogue; his niece Jenna Hogue.

The family is planning a private burial at the Carolina Memorial Sanctuary in Mills River, NC. The public is invited to attend a Remembering the life of Jay Pintacuda on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 5:00 p.m. at the Foster SDA Church at 375 Hendersonville Rd., Asheville, NC 28803, beginning with a short service in the sanctuary and a reception to follow in the church gymnasium.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Foster SDA Church with a memo for the Community Outreach Program/Jay Pintacuda gift. Foster SDA Church at 375 Hendersonville Rd., Asheville, NC 28803.

Groce Funeral Home’s Lake Julian team is assisting the family.