Andy “Dean” DeNicola, J.P. Stevens band director for 50 years, dies at 72

By Alvin Wu + Siddarth Perikala + Zoe Wu
Domestic Affairs
Andy “Dean” DeNicola, J.P. Stevens band director for 50 years, dies at 72

Andrew “Dean” S. DeNicola speaks during an interview segment of his video submission as one of 25 possible nominations for the inaugural Grammy Award for Excellence in Music Education in 2013. EDISON BOARD OF EDUCATION/Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNB7JDgGx_0)

EDISON, N.J., Aug. 11 (ZFJ) — Andrew “Dean” S. DeNicola, 55, band director at John P. Stevens High School for 50 years, died on May 20, 2024, after many years of battling heart disease.

“His devotion toward music, the band program, and his students was unparalleled, and anyone who had the pleasure of getting to know Andy knew he was having fun and living his life to the fullest,” wrote the Central Jersey Music Educators Association on Instagram.

He was one of 10 finalists for the inaugural Grammy Music Educator Award, an inductee for the American Bandmasters Association, and self-proclaimed “World’s Best Third Trumpet Player.”

He was also a die-hard fan of Maynard Ferguson, Tower of Power, and the New York Yankees, according to his obituary.

DeNicola was known as a family man. He considered the band to be part of his own family, and so did his students. One of his mottos he often said was, “you gotta take care of your own family first.”

“You could have noticed that when you went to the wake: he had his 40-50 family members, a very close knit group of people who knew Dean from all the weddings they went to, all the birthday parties, all the celebrations of the years,” said John Zazzali, current J.P. Stevens band director and student of DeNicola. “But then you have, outside of those 50 core people, you had another 500-plus people who came to the wake who the family have no idea who these people are. These are people throughout his career who he really touched in a way that, you know, probably no other teacher was able to reach this particular person.”

Students in DeNicola’s classes learned not just musicianship but also key life lessons. He created a safe environment that students could call their “home away from home.”

“He was teaching just basically how to function. How do you function on a day-to-day basis?” said Zazzali.

“There’s plenty of people who are just—Dean would say the words ‘a complete mess.’ They’re a complete mess and then they go to college and you can see how they’re a complete mess. They don’t take care of themselves, they don’t know how to function in a daily life setting, and he stressed that in his classroom setting all the time to these students, that it’s not just about the music, it’s about you taking care of your business: do your job.”

“And I feel like Dean would remind us constantly in band class that it’s not just ‘play your part.’ It’s also take care of yourself, do the things that maybe your parents aren’t telling you to do because they’re too busy to tell you, you know?”

A leader by example, he was always the first one in the band room at 6:50 in the morning and the last one to leave at night. He devoted an immense amount of time and effort to his passion. Another famous saying of his was, “I’ve never had to work a day in my life.”

“He always believed in, you know, ‘if you’re going to demonstrate true leadership, it starts with showing the students in the program how much you care about them and how much you care about the program,’” said Zazzali. “And the buck stops with you, as the director. So the way you act essentially is the way the students are going to act. So if you are always going to be late to things, then how can you demand the students to be on time to things if you can’t be on time to things? ‘Cause you have to practice what you preach.”

DeNicola constantly showed his students that there was always more to learn at every skill level.

“He could take the best musician—the all-state, all-eastern player—and just, like, humble them, just like that,” Zazzali said with a succinct clap. “And he did it in such a way that made them, like, ‘holy crap, Dean’s right. I’m not that good.’ Like, as good as they were, he made sure that they knew that, ‘yeah, you’re pretty good, but there’s still a whole other level out there. You can be better.’”

“There’s a lot of kids in the band who are all-state players and sometimes with that comes, like, a conceitedness, a feeling of like they know more than anybody else, but Dean would know how to just squash that and say, ‘No, you don’t know more than anybody else. There’s a lot you could still learn.’”

DeNicola is survived by his wife of 50 years, Katherine “Kathy” DeNicola; children Albert (Mischelle) DeNicola and Katie (Jay) Roman; grandchildren Jalen, Albert, Maggie, and Gianna; siblings Albert (Gerry) DeNicola and Patty (John) Owens; brother and sisters-in law Lou (Robyn) Zandomenego, Gayle Schlett, Beth Vittor, and predeceased Amy Sub; and nieces and nephews John and Courtney DeNicola, Micaela and Molly Owens, Brianna Olesen, Tyler and Matthew Zandomenego, Niki and Dan Schlett, Zachary and Gabby Vittor, and Sadie and Julian Sub.

In lieu of flowers, it is requested that donations be made in support of creating The Andy DeNicola Memorial Fund by a check made payable to Katherine R. DeNicola with “Memorial Fund” in the memo.

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