Deputy Chief Mario Abbruzzese was born in Plainfield, New Jersey on February 2, 1928. He was raised in Plainfield, New Jersey, joined the United States Army, post WWII, and after his honorable discharge from the Army worked in Construction. He then moved to North Plainfield where he was married and had 2 children, a daughter and son. In June of 1955 he joined the North Plainfield Fire Department as a “Callman”. A Callman was a volunteer who supplemented career force manpower during emergencies and at that time it was a requirement to joining the career force. Deputy Chief Abbruzzese became a regular member of the career force on May 1, 1958.

Deputy Chief Abbruzzese rose through the ranks in the Career Department and on January 1, 1976, he was promoted to Deputy Chief of Department. On Monday, May 10, 1976, he, after working his normal duty day shift, along with 4 other members of the career department attended a fire science training class at the then, Somerset County College, in Branchburg, NJ when he suddenly went into cardiac arrest and fell to the floor.

At this time, 2 of the other North Plainfield Firefighters, Captain Joseph Mingari and Lieutenant Gary Lewis, (Lewis who was also a member of the North Plainfield Rescue Squad and well trained in first aid and CPR), initiated CPR and after several minutes a pulse was regained but then lost and CPR was resumed. The local ambulance arrived, and Capt. Mingari and Lt. Lewis accompanied the ambulance, continuing CPR enroute to the closest hospital, which was Somerset Hospital in Somerville, NJ. Deputy Chief Abbruzzese was pronounced dead on arrival at the Emergency Department at approximately 2035 hrs.