South Philly-raised director and actor Amina Robinson is one of the region’s most celebrated theater makers, known for directing major productions including Fat Ham, Once on This Island, and The Color Purple. Now based in Cherry Hill with her husband and son, Robinson was just named the new artistic director of Norristown’s Theatre Horizon, where she’ll take the helm later this year.
When she’s not directing plays and musicals like this spring’s Ain’t Misbehavin’, the Temple University professor spends her days walking around Philadelphia and visiting family in West Philly. On her perfect Philly day, she takes her family for cheesesteaks at Jim’s before walking around the Schuylkill and, of course, catching a show at her soon-to-be artistic home, Theatre Horizon.
8 a.m.
I get up and I wake up my son and my husband. We decide to get ready and go to Philly for breakfast. We’re gonna go to Eggcellent Cafe on Chestnut Street and I’m gonna eat their truffle avocado toast — it’s so big and good. I’m gonna have their golden turmeric latte, too.
Families and friends gather from all over to watch the firework show over the Delaware River on New Years Eve at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
10:30 a.m.
We’ll walk breakfast off by taking a nice little walk down Penn’s Landing, right along the water.
11 a.m.
After that, we’ll go visit my mom in Overbrook Park. I would bring her decaffeinated Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, that’s a must. Then we’ll sit and talk with my mom for a little bit. I would see my brother and my stepdad, and probably my nephew, and maybe my brother’s girlfriend would be there, but I really would be going to visit my mommy.
Ken Silver, owner of Jim’s Steaks, corner of 4th and South Street with sign on front of building.The restaurant is under construction after 2022 fire destroyed the cheesesteak restaurant. Photo taken on Monday, March 25, 2024.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
1 p.m.
For lunchtime I want to go down to Jim’s on South Street and get a cheesesteak with whiz and fried onions. I probably need to walk off my cheesesteak, but I’m not going to walk off my cheesesteak. I’m going to let it just sit in my belly for a while.
3 p.m.
Then we’ll go out to the Art Museum area and chill out and walk around. Maybe we’ll have ice cream, there are usually ice cream trucks out there. I love walking around that area so much — I’ve always loved West River Drive and Kelly Drive. When I was a kid, I didn’t know that Boathouse Row was like boathouses, even though it’s called that — I used to always say, when I grew up, I’m gonna live in one of those houses.
Boathouse Row is relit with a new programmable system containing 6,400 LED lights that allow for 16 million color combinations in Philadelphia, Pa. on Thursday, March 7, 2024.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
5:30 p.m.
At night, I’m gonna go to Norristown. There’s this Mexican restaurant on Main Street that’s so freaking good, Taqueria La Michoacana. I would definitely have their beans and rice, and tacos, and I don’t know what else.
7:30 p.m.
I would go see a show at Theatre Horizon. They want to foster empathy and edify the people who come to see the theater. As the incoming artistic director, I’d love to start programs like that to grow the artistic community there, all the while supporting the community that’s already been built there.
New artistic director Amina Robinson at an event for Theatre Horizon’s 2018 production of ‘The Color Purple.’Courtesy of Theatre Horizon
10 p.m.
I’d head home to sit outside and watch the cars go by, just like chill out and relax. Then I’ll lay on the couch and fall asleep watching a television show, probably a Lifetime Movie Network movie.
Seth Friedman was watching the NBA Finals on Saturday night in Graduate Hospital when he heard a familiar refrain.
It came from Leon Rose, the mild-mannered architect of the New York Knicks. His team had just won its first title since 1973.
Rose, 65, was asked how he felt knowing he’d built a roster that had ended a 53-year-drought. The Knicks president shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and pivoted to his players.
He praised their brotherhood, their grit, their empathy. He talked about their care for one another, and their selflessness, and how it allowed them to reach new heights.
Friedman, sitting on his couch next to his wife, began to tear up.
“It sounded like he was talking to us,” he said, “back when we were 13 or 14 years old.”
The setting was vastly different. Instead of holding two-a-days for high schoolers, Rose was standing on a platform in San Antonio, Texas, with a sparkling trophy beside him.
But the message was nearly identical. Friedman listened to it himself when he played for Rose in the mid-2000s at his local Jewish community center.
“He literally preached that same mentality,” Friedman said. “That family mentality.”
Leon Rose coaching at the Katz JCC in 2005. Seth Friedman is pictured in the bottom row, second from the right.Photo courtesy of Katz JCC
For decades, the future Knicks president was a mainstay in his Cherry Hill basketball community. He played under head coach John Valore at Cherry Hill East from 1975 to 1979 and joined Valore’s staff in the early 1980s while studying atTemple’s law school.
He moved on to work as an assistant coach through the late 1980s at Rutgers-Camden, a short commute from his day job at the Camden County prosecutor’s office.
He’d leave collegiate coaching in 1988, but Rose would always find time for the sport, even as he ascended the ranks of the NBA. In the 1990s, while he transitioned to sports management, Rose often could be found playing pickup hoops at the Katz JCC in Cherry Hill.
By the mid 2000s, he’d assembled a Rolodex of star-studded clients, including Allen Iverson and LeBron James. But that didn’t keep him away from the gym. For the better part of a decade, Rose served as a volunteer coach at the Katz JCC, preparing teams to compete in the Maccabi Games.
The Knicks executive has achieved a lot since then. But those who know him best say he is the same understated guy who’d wear baggy sweatshirts and run his team through tap drills and sprints.
“He was Coach Leon,” Friedman said. “He was one of us. Even now, you see him down the Shore, and you’d never know that he’s the person that he is.”
New York Knicks Leon Rose (left) hugs guard Jalen Brunson (11) as they leave the court following a Game 6 win against the Pistons in the 2025 playoffs. Duane Burleson
‘A gym rat’
Valore met Rose in 1975 when he was coaching junior varsity at Cherry Hill East. The freshman was undersized compared to his teammates, but he played above his stature.
If there was a loose ball, the point guard would dive for it. If there was a charge, he would take it. Valore admired his toughness. So when he got the varsity job in 1976-77, he decided to bring Rose with him.
The sophomore made the most of his opportunity. Cherry Hill East was a relatively new program at the time and largely was viewed as a “doormat,” in Valore’s words. Rose helped change that, building an unselfish culture from the ground up.
He wasn’t a vocal leader, but he showed interpersonal skills that would serve him later on. The future NBA executive was direct and honest. He could have difficult conversations with teammates if he needed to about roles and behavior on and off the court.
Rose also set a standard through his style of play. Cherry Hill East was up against stiff competition in South Jersey from teams like Camden and Haddon Heights, which boasted players who were 6-foot-2, 6-3.
The point guard was unafraid to battle them.
“He was a player that had to compete harder and tougher than the person he competed against,” Valore said, “because he was 5-7, 5-8, 5-9. That shows you the toughness he had within him.”
Leon Rose at Cherry Hill East.Courtesy of John Valore
Cherry Hill East’s culture quickly translated into wins. When Rose arrived, the varsity team finished just above .500. By the time he graduated, it was one of the best teams in its conference.
But above all, Valore was most impressed by his pupil’s character. During a practice in 1979, the coach called his co-captain over. Valore’s wife, Joyce, had just given birth to their first child, J.C.
The coach wanted Rose to be the boy’s godfather.
“[Leon] was 17 years old,” he said, “and I saw everything I wanted to see. He was an exceptional person with relating to other people. He was something special.
“He went back to his dad and explained the situation, and his dad gave the thumbs-up. And the rest is history.”
After a few years studying and playing basketball at Dickinson College, Rose rejoined his high school team as an assistant coach in 1983. The 22-year-old was just as impactful on the bench as he’d been as a point guard.
Over Rose’s three seasons with Cherry Hill East, the program produced four Division I players. One of those four, Nick Katsikis, ended up contributing to Seton Hall’s run to the 1989 NCAA championship game.
Valore can see similarities in what Rose accomplished with the Knicks. When the agent was hired by James Dolan in 2020, the team was en route to its seventh straight losing season; “a doormat,” just like Cherry Hill East.
Then Rose came along, and everything changed.
“He was a gym rat,” Valore said. “He just loved the game.”
Leon Rose coaching for the Katz JCC in 2004. Ed Vernick is pictured on the far right.Photo courtesy of Katz JCC
From Maccabi gold to an NBA title
Ed Vernick moved from Philadelphia to South Jersey in the early 1980s, the same time Rose was coaching with Valore.
Unsurprisingly, the men became friends at the gym. Vernick was about to go on a trip to Ocean City and wanted a good place to work out. Rose overheard him talking, ripped off a piece of paper, and scribbled down an address.
Vernick had no idea who the young lawyer was, but he took him up on his suggestion. A few days later, while he was running on a treadmill in that Ocean City gym, he saw Rose walking by.
“He goes, ‘I just wanted to make sure you got here,’” Vernick said. “What a nice guy. I’m thinking, ‘Who does that?’ It was just one of those things that caught me.”
About two decades later, when Rose was starting to coach basketball at the Katz JCC, he asked Vernick to be his assistant. Together, they spent the summer of 2004 preparing Cherry Hill-area kids for the Maccabi Games, a youth athletic competition for Jewish athletes from all over the world.
Parents and players said Rose took this as seriously as the NBA Finals. He’d carefully craft his rosters, thinking hard about how each piece would fit.
Once the team was constructed, he’d spend July running them into the ground with many of the methods Valore used at Cherry Hill East: switch drills, sprints, tap drills.
Leon Rose coaching at the Katz JCC in 2005.Photo courtesy of Katz JCC
The week before the Games was by far the toughest. Players would be required to train twice a day and would arrive at the gym at 6:30 a.m. and return at 2 p.m.
“He got into us,” Friedman said. “But it got us ready. It got us prepared. It got us in shape. I hated it during it, but, looking back, those were memories I’ll never forget.”
This was a major time investment for one of the most high-powered agents in the NBA, but Rose was deeply involved. He continued to coach before and after his son, Sam, and daughter, Brooke, were eligible to play.
And he went far beyond what was expected of a volunteer. One year, Friedman said Rose took the team up to the Poconos for an exhibition game at Pine Forest Camp, which was known for its basketball program.
“He’s driving us up to play an exhibition game like it’s an NBA team,” Friedman said. “He didn’t have to do that as a coach. But he did whatever he could to get us prepped and ready to win a gold medal.”
About “80% of the team” came from Cherry Hill East, in Vernick’s estimation, and Rose often would be on the phone with Valore, asking about certain players.
Like his former coach, Rose gravitated toward toughness, and that style emanated from the teams he built. In 2004, South Jersey’s 16-and-under Maccabi team faced Washington, D.C., for the gold medal.
Leon Rose (in 2006) made his name as a superagent to the likes of Allen Iverson and LeBron James, but he did not flaunt that status to his young players. APRIL SAUL
It was a low-scoring game, one that came down to the buzzer. Washington was bigger and more talented, but Rose’s group challenged every bucket.
“I remember I could hear sneakers squeaking the whole game,” Vernick said, “and I just smiled. And I thought, ‘This is the way you play defense.’”
South Jersey fell, 42-40, but it won gold the following year in Minneapolis.
Rose spent six summers coaching at the JCC throughout the 2000s, winning two gold and two silver medals. He looked and acted like any other coach, donning Cherry Hill East basketball gear and sweatpants.
He rarely — if ever — talked about who he represented, or what he did for work, but the players occasionally got a glimpse.
When Friedman was a senior at Cherry Hill East, Rose arranged a surprise for his alma mater.
It was March 2010. The Cleveland Cavaliers were in town. After practice, their coach swung by to talk to the high school basketball team and answer any questions they might have.
It ended up being the coach who would lead the Knicks to a championship 16 years later.
“He had Mike Brown come over,” Valore said. “He was fantastic. Off the cuff, not scripted. He gave a wonderful speech to the kids.”
John Valore (left) and Zev Rose before a Knicks game in the early part of their 2026 playoff run.Photo courtesy of John Valore
Cherry Hill at the Garden
Rose and his family now live in New York, but they’re never too far from Cherry Hill. His 88-year-old father, Zev, still resides in the area, and is a regular at the Katz JCC.
Every once in a while, his son will send a limo to drive him and the 81-year-old Valore to Madison Square Garden. They were in the building for Game 4, sitting near the team president.
At first, it looked bleak for New York. The Knicks fell behind early and trailed by 29 points in the third quarter. But they came storming back in the fourth and completed the comeback on an OG Anunoby tip-in.
Tucked away on a bustling tree-lined Collingswood street, James A. Garfield Elementary has been the center of its South Jersey neighborhood for more than a century.
Built in 1915, it is the second-oldest public school in Collingswood and has educated generations of families. Passersby stop in the front yard to reminisce under two giant trees or sit on a century-old bench.
Garfield enrolls about 128 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The teachers know every student by name and parents love the sense of community.
It will come to an end next week when Garfield closes its doors.
“It’s been the best 13 years of my career,” said principal Mark Wiltsey. “Is it sad? Of course. I was all about it. It’s who I am.”
The exterior of James A. Garfield Elementary School in Collingswood.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Facing a $3.3 million budget deficit for the 2026-27 school year, Superintendent Fred McDowell made the difficult decision to close Garfield and transfer students and staff to other schools. With operating costs exceeding available revenues, the district also cut 33 positions and programs.
“No one ever wants to make reductions to staff,” McDowell said in an interview this month. “It has become necessary. It’s just not sustainable.”
Collingswood Public Schools Superintendent Fredrick McDowell at James A. Garfield Elementary School earlier this month. He said budget issues forced him to close the school, which his own child attends.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Collingswood’s state aid for the coming year was reduced by $305,000, while expenses have increased by $4.8 million. The district increased property taxes by 6.4% but still had a budget hole.
The Garfield closing and other cuts struck a nerve in Collingswood, which currently enrolls about 2,500 students in nine schools. The district plans to consolidate its high school and middle school operations, shut down its high school wellness center, and impose fees for some extracurricular activities.
The Collingswood Education Association criticized the decisions and took a no-confidence vote against McDowell. Saying there was an “urgent need for a change in the leadership direction,” the union implored the school board to relieve McDowell of his duties.
The union, which represents about 230 teachers and support staff, said 150 staff members have left since McDowell became schools chief in 2021. Morale has dropped and fiscal decisions have impacted the classroom, the union said.
Garfield Elementary in Collingswood is preparing to close.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
McDowell, whose contract expires in 2027, defended his record and blasted the union for finger-pointing during a budget crisis. Staff turnover follows post-pandemic nationwide trends, and Collingswood’s structural budget deficit has been years in the making, he said.
McDowell will be affected personally by the Garfield closing. His 9-year-old daughter is a fourth grader and a son would have been a kindergartner in the fall.
“In what world does a father want to close his own child’s school, unless there’s no other way,” the superintendent said.
‘Heartbroken’ to lose an elementary school
There were tears and high emotions as word spread that the two-story neighborhood school would close, affecting about 100students and about 15 teachers and support staff. The fifth graders will move to middle school, and the remaining students will be sent to the district’s four other elementary schools with larger class sizes to accommodate more students.
“I feel heartbroken. I feel angry,” said Elizabeth Vukovic Gartlan, whose youngest, Liam, is a fourth grader at Garfield. “It’s such a wonderful school and a beautiful community.”
Gartlan said Liam asked: “Why can’t we have a bake sale” to save the school? He will go to Newbie Elementary in the fall. His mother worries that more cuts could come.
Teacher Samantha Nash Rovner talks with a reporter at James A. Garfield Elementary School on this month. Garfield is closing at the end of the school year.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The closing has been bittersweet for teachers, too, as they pack up years of materials. Fourth-grade English teacher Samantha Nash Rovner will have third graders at Zane North.
“It’s very mixed emotion,” Rovner said. “It’s really sad that Garfield is closing.”
McDowell said no employees will lose their jobs, although some staff may be put in different positions.
Located on Haddon Avenue, Garfield is a hub in Collingswood, known for its quintessential Main Street aura. The schools and the downtown district are walkable, making its quaint shops and restaurants popular destinations.
“It’s just a special place,” said Julie Donato, the mother of two Garfield students. ”Our entire life revolved around this school.”
The school is decorated with colorful murals and inspirational quotes. Framed pictures of students and their families line the walls. A memorial garden out front pays tribute to Michael Jubb, a student killed in an accident, and a sign honors Dolores Bobb, a beloved crossing guard.
Donato said her husband’s grandmother attended Garfield. When his grandmother came to the United States from Italy, Garfield students taught her English, she said. And Donato’s children were especially fond of visiting senior citizens who live next to the school at Collingswood Manor.
Most students are unaware of the school’s history, Wiltsey said. Because the school is often referred to as Garfield, they believe the name comes from the comic strip about a cynical orange tabby cat with the same name, he said with a laugh.
Fifth grade students work in English class at James A. Garfield Elementary School in Collingswood this month. The school is closing at the end of the school year.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Wiltsey said the school receives letters from former students sharing memories of their time at Garfield. They are archived in an album with old photographs.
For a Garfield history project that has been saved at the school, Bonnie Brown Saunders of Colorado recalled enrolling as a kindergartner in 1948. She recalled memories for every year, including first grade when a pretty girl transferred in.
“All the boys liked her — a lot. I learned about two emotions — boys and jealousy. I also learned how to read and become the picture of health,” she wrote.
A photograph of the seventh grade class at James A. Garfield Elementary School on April 24, 1922.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Wiltsey, who will move to the middle school complex as a supervisor, said school officials began preparing students last month for the closing. Tatum Elementary will get the biggest chunk, about 52 students.
There have been walking tours and activities to meet new classmates and teachers, he said. Siblings were assigned to the same school.
Wiltsey compared preparing for the last day of school — June 22 — to the grief process and has experienced a range of emotions. Teacher Jessica Harbridge said the reality will hit in September.
“I’ve accepted it,” Wiltsey said. “We’re all moving on to new challenges.”
Principal Mark Wiltsey talks about the family photographs that line the walls at James A. Garfield Elementary School.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Brio Italian Grille’s location in Cherry Hill. Sarah Nicell
Last month, reports began swirling online that Brio Italian Grille in Towne Place atGarden State Park would be closing and be replaced by Fogo de Chão. But that may not come to fruition.
While permits have been issued for the Brazilian steakhouse to overhaul Brio’s current space, the chain doesn’t have a lease to take it over yet, a real estate executive with the firm that owns Towne Place’s tenant management company said. Should Brio, which filed for bankruptcy last year, choose not to renew its lease, “Fogo is 100% a tenant we would be interested in speaking with.”
The H Mart in Cherry Hill was recently updated.Hira Qureshi
Cherry Hill’s H Mart recently underwent a massive update, including an overhaul to the Asian grocery store’s first floor and a new second-floor food hall. Inquirer reporter and self-described H Mart diehard Hira Qureshi recently paid a visit to suss out the best finds.
Her advice? Start on the second floor, browsing the sections with Korean beauty products and general goods like notebooks, small toys, and character keychains, as well as an arcade, first. After, she recommends tackling the first floor, stocked with meat, produce, seafood, and other grocery staples.
By then, you’ll have worked up an appetite, so swing by the new food court.
In case you missed it, last week 28-year-old Oregon man Cristian Custodio-Aquino pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in connection with the 2024 stabbing death of Cherry Hill veterinarian Michael Anthony. The Inquirer’s Jesse Bunch has all the details.
South Jersey progressives who campaigned for Gov. Sherrill say the first-term governor failed her first major test in the office, juggling her opposition to Delaney Hall, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, with widespread criticism for how she handled protests outside of it. Cherry Hill resident Marie Henselder-Kimmel, who leads NJ Voters Who Want More Say, said she feels “torn” about Sherrill’s decision to send in state police during the protests. The Inquirer’s Aliya Schneider delves into what some former supporters are saying.
A new nursing home opened at 3025 Chapel Ave. last week. Dwellside Care and Rehab offers both short- and long-term care.
The College World Series kicked off this week and there was plenty of local talent on the eight teams that made the bracket, including Cherry Hill West alum Jon Young Jr. The sophomore at the University of Alabama is one of six players with area ties.
Heads up for drivers: There will be work on several roads this week, including a partial westbound lane closure on Kresson Road between Evesham and Cropwell Roads from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. through Friday. Kenilworth Avenue will be closed between Chapel Avenue and Route 38 from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through Friday. And Cooper Landing Road will be closed between Valley Run and Route 70 from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. today through Saturday.
🏫 Schools Briefing
Tomorrow is the last day of school, as well as high school graduations. There’s a board of education meeting Tuesday evening. See the district’s full calendar here.
Superintendent Kwame Morton made $250,213 for the 2025-26 school year, putting his annual salary $46,485 over the average superintendent salary statewide. (NJ.com)
Earlier this month, the Sari Isdaner Early Childhood Center at the Katz JCC named Stacey Unterlack director of Jewish education and early childhood education. Unterlack had previously served as interim director.
🍽️ On our Plate
Notorious former alleged mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino recently expanded his eatery, opening Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza in Wildwood. He’s added stromboli and pizza to the menu, the latter using a recipe from Vito’s on Haddonfield Berlin Road. Merlino’s social media-driven reboot is thanks in part to Joe “Lil Snuff” Perri Jr., who you might recognize from his brassy, unscripted commercials for Mall Chevrolet. The Inquirer’s Michael Klein explains how the two connected and built a popular brand.
Blue Fig Garden is one of the best Mediterranean restaurants in the state, according to BestofNJ.com. The website noted the restaurant at the mall combines Turkish and Mediterranean flavors.
🎳 Things to Do
🍷 Wine Down Wednesday: Enjoy five two-ounce pours of wine and appetizers. ⏰ Wednesday, June 17, 6-8 p.m. 💵 $25 📍 Randall’s Restaurant
🗓️ Juneteenth: Cherry Hill African American Civil Association hosts its sixth annual parade and festival, complete with live music, vendors, food trucks, and a petting zoo. ⏰ Saturday, June 20, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Rain date: June 21) 💵 Pay as you go 📍 Croft Farm
🍑 The Peach Truck Tour: The roving peach truck will make a stop at the mall to sell boxes of the fresh fruit (which is good news, since local crops were largely wiped out earlier this year). It’ll return again next month. ⏰ Saturday, June 20, 4:30-6 p.m. 💵 $15-$120 📍 Cherry Hill Mall
🍿 Wicked: For Good: Catch a screening of the sequel to the Broadway hit and popular 2024 film. ⏰ Monday, June 22, 2-4:20 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Cherry Hill Public Library
The brick-front home has a Colonial-style layout.Plush | Courtesy of Jacki Silva Steuer/The Silva Group | OCF Realty
Located in Kresson Woods, this four-bedroom brick Colonial has a bright interior. The living room features large windows and a fireplace and there’s a dining room off the kitchen, which has two-tone cabinetry, granite countertops, a walk-in pantry, and a double oven. All four bedrooms are upstairs, including a primary suite with a walk-in closet. Out back, there’s a patio and a fenced yard.
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The letters that follow Robin Cogan’s name represent some of healthcare’s most impressive achievements. NCSN, nationally certified school nurse. FNASN, fellow of the National Academy of School Nursing. FAAN, fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Also, RN and MEd.
Then there are the awards. Two-time President’s Award winner from the National Association of School Nurses. The 2017 Population Health Hero Award from the New Jersey Department of Health. The Johnson & Johnson 2017 School Nurse of the Year. And many more.
Robin Cogan joined the Camden City School District as a school nurse in 2001 after training earlier as an art therapist and spending 14 years as a psychiatric clinical nurse and corporate health services manager. It was with the school district and its students, families, and staff where she really found her groove.
For nearly three decades, Robin Cogan championed school safety and population healthcare, and advocated tirelessly for school nurses everywhere. Her website, blog, frequent podcast appearances, and wide-ranging institutional activism gave voice to school nursing stories, and combated gun violence and other pressing problems.
On May 10, Robin Cogan blogged: “The profession is better, and so are countless children, because of the relentless, brilliant nurses who choose school nursing year after year.”
Mrs. Cogan became a school nurse in Camden in 2001.Heather Khalifa / Staff Photographer
On Thursday, June 11, Robin Cogan died of cancer at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. She was 65.
“Robin dedicated her life to caring for others,” Pamela K. Clark, president of the Camden Education Association, said in a tribute. “Her work extended far beyond the walls of our schools, leaving a lasting impact on the profession she loved.”
Born in Philadelphia, Mrs. Cogan graduated from Cherry Hill West High School in 1978 and earned a bachelor’s degree in art therapy and psychology in 1982 at what is now the College of New Jersey in Trenton. She gained her nursing credentials at the Helene Fuld College of Nursing in New York and Rowan University, and earned a master’s degree in clinical, counseling, and applied psychology at Wilmington University in Delaware in 2009.
As a school nurse in Camden, she oversaw more than 900 students from preschool through eighth grade at Cooper’s Poynt School and, most recently, more than 400 students at three preschools. She took temperatures, counseled worried parents, and personally helped thousands of people weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She influenced policy, championed health equity, elevated the role of school nurses,” a colleague said on Facebook, “and reminded us that one person truly can create ripples that become waves.”
The Inquirer published this story and photos about Mrs. Cogan’s art program in 2019.Newspapers.com
She was featured in The Inquirer and other publications, and appeared on TV and radio programs and podcasts. She focused on “shared values” to connect people, she said often, and posted the motto for her Relentless Nurse website on the homepage: “Be relentless in your practice whatever it is.”
Robin Michelle Cohen was born June 28, 1960. She met Ed Cogan in college, and they married in 1984, lived in Trenton and Cherry Hill, and had twin daughters Allie and Jill.
Mrs. Cogan was driven to address gun violence, she said, after her father survived a mass murder in Camden in 1949, and her niece survived the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. “I hope my legacy is helping solve this crisis,” she told The Inquirer in 2022. “Don’t we owe that to our kids?”
This photo of Mrs. Cogan (left) and others at the old Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill appeared in The Inquirer in 1996.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
She was a talented painter and designed a popular pin that she and a friend sold in a home-based spiritual jewelry and art business. She loved nature and 1970s folk music. She enjoyed hosting Thanksgiving dinners and visiting the Jersey Shore. She was one-time president of the old Temple Emanuel Sisterhood in Cherry Hill.
“She was a helper,” said her daughter Allie. “She was good at relationships and never really turned off her working mind.”
In addition to her husband and daughters, Mrs. Cogan is survived by a granddaughter, Nora, a nephew, Matthew, sisters Lori and Merri, and other relatives.
Private services were held earlier. A celebration of her life is to be held later.
Confusion about the potential closing of Brio Italian Grille in Cherry Hill has felt like a nightmare, Grace Ortiz, the restaurant’s general manager, said.
Staff have been inundated with calls inquiring about the closure, which hasn’t been made official by the restaurant, its landlord, or the Brazilian steakhouse interested in the property, causing confusion for some of the employees.
“We’re here. We want to be busy,” Ortiz saidFriday. “Hopefully this blows over.”
Brio has 19 remaining locations nationwide, including the last New Jersey location at Cherry Hill’s Towne Place at Garden State Park. That retail complex, a five-minute drive from the Cherry Hill Mall, features about 20 eateries from the Cheesecake Factory to Kabuki Japanese Cuisine.
The next closest Brio Italian Grille for South Jerseyans is 200 miles away in Farmington, Conn.
42 Freeway, a publication covering development in South Jersey, first reported in May that chain Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse would replace the restaurant. NJ.com followed suit, attributing the news to project plans filed by Fogo de Chão and the owners of Towne Place to the Cherry Hill Township Zoning Board in April.
Those plans propose a remodeled restaurant with 296 seats. Cosmas Diamantis, the municipal attorney for Cherry Hill Township, said in an email that the required zoning permits for the conversion from Brio Italian Grille to Fogo de Chão were already issued.
One zoning permit, obtained in a records request to Cherry Hill Township, referred to the restaurant property as “the former Brio Italian Grille.” A design development presentation dated November 2025 shows renderings for what the Brazilian restaurant could look like at 901 Haddonfield Rd.
But Ortiz said Brio Italian Grille’s corporate office told her that there are no current plans to close down, and that her restaurant just got its liquor license renewed last week. So what’s going on?
Brio Italian Grille in Cherry Hill is located at Towne Place at Garden State Park.Sarah Nicell
Is Brio Italian Grille actually leaving Cherry Hill?
That depends on whom you ask. Brio Italian Grille did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for Fogo de Chão declined to discuss the potential project.
In Cherry Hill Township and elsewhere, restaurateurs must apply for zoning permits before any changes in occupancy are set in stone. That means there’s no guarantee that Fogo de Chão actually has a lease in hand for 901 Haddonfield Rd.
It’s common for work to never actually start on projects even when they receive zoning permits, a Cherry Hill Township attorney said. In Fogo de Chão’s case, the zoning permit just means the proposed project is permitted to happen, even if it never does.
Since rumors of Brio Italian Grille’s closure have swirled, Joe Morris, an executive for M&M Realty Partners, which owns the landlord entity that manages the site’s tenants, said he has received an influx of people interested in developing the property.
Morris, said Monday that Fogo de Chão has not signed a lease for a lot at Towne Place, but the chain has inquired about joining the Cherry Hill retail center for the last 12 years.
M&M Realty, a New Jersey-based real estate development company, has kept a close eye on Brio Italian Grille after it declared bankruptcy in August and recently closed its Marlton location. Morris said those problems could mean the chain might not reup its lease at Towne Place, and M&M Realty might have to find other viable tenants. Morris declined to share when that lease will expire, though he said the restaurant has “a semi-limited period of time before important decisions have to be made.”
Still, Morris said he has no idea whether Brio Italian Grille is in conversations with Fogo de Chão about giving up the property. He said Brio Italian Grille is “alive and well,” isn’t behind on payments, and continues to spend money on its business.
“There are certain things I know I can’t say. There are certain things I can speculate,” Morris said. “I can absolutely tell you, if Brio gives their space back, Fogo is 100% a tenant we would be interested in speaking with.”
After nearly 25 years in operation, the newly renovated H Mart in Cherry Hill is drawing crowds as regulars and newcomers marvel at its major improvements.
The outpost of the renowned Korean grocery store off Route 70 has served the local community since 2001. In April 2025, the Cherry Hill Township Planning Board approved plans for an expansion. A year later, the grocery store reopened with enhancements to the first floor and an open-concept food court, bakery, and retail space on the second.
As a diehard H Mart fan, I decided to venture across the bridge on a recent Thursday and see the 39,000-square-foot store for myself.
Customers shop inside H Mart Cherry Hill.Hira Qureshi
Where to start your H Mart visit
I arrived at the brick building, marked with the familiar “H Mart” sign in big red letters, at about 11 a.m. Entering through the double sliding doors of the second floor, I found myself inside the new food court.
A few customers dined in the massive seating area that morning, enjoying various dishes. I decided to grab an iced brown sugar coffee boba from Tiger Sugar as a little treat to sip on during my exploration.
Beginning the journey on the second floor was the right move, according to Ryan Solot, a regular shopper at H Mart. He and his wife, Miki Solot, came to the store once a week before renovations. The couple were shopping for dashi stock and Japanese sauces when I ran into them. They were happy to see the makeover, particularly on the second floor’s general shop department. But the Solots still felt the first-level aisles were a bit narrow for ideal grocery shopping.
“The layout is strangely unchanged,” Ryan Solot said. “It’s still kind of awkward to get through the aisles … but start from the top [floor] and make your way down, it’s much more organized upstairs.”
Korean beauty section at H Mart Cherry Hill.Hira Qureshi
The second floor of H Mart: general goods, Korean beauty products, and an arcade
Walking out of the food court area, I found a mini Korean beauty store with boxed shelving displaying creams, serums, cleansers, tonics, and other products from popular brands such as Medicube, Anua, and Beauty of Joseon. Attendants explained the various products to customers, especially to Korean skincare novices like myself.
Neon arrow signs next to the beauty department directed me into H Mart’s general store and “H Pop” section. A small selection of drinks and snacks lined the shelves leading me into the rows of shelves with over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, toiletry items, slippers, bedding, and kitchenware.
In the back corner I found a vast selection of cutesy notebooks, pens (ones with funky kiwi and toilet attachments), furry character key chains, mini toys, makeup storage containers, and other knickknacks. The prices for items were organized by serial numbers, which were listed on a card hanging off the shelves. Pro tip: Take a photo of that price card to reference as you shop.
Customers shop inside H Mart Cherry Hill.Hira Qureshi
The first floor of H Mart: frozen foods, fresh produce and seafood, snacks, and lots of instant noodles
Taped to the elevator, two signs offered directions on where to find specific items. “Second floor: food court, house ware, characters, K-beauty, game, health food” and “First floor: Asian/Western, produce, fish, meat, ready to eat, banchan” were written in all caps and highlighted in yellow.
The elevator also had another sign with an important tip for shoppers: “You are welcome to shop freely on both 1st and 2nd floor, and you may check out either floor.”
Downstairs on the first level, the elevator opened up to aisles upon aisles of snacks, produce, sauces, packaged sweets, and lots of instant noodles. Each aisle is organized by number with a sign noting all the items available.
Shrimp crackers at H Mart Cherry Hill.Hira Qureshi
I walk into Aisle 3 as I exited the elevator and found snacks galore. KitKats, Pocky sticks, Buldak ramen-flavored chips, O’jelly real plum candies, lychee gummies, Poongnyun Bakery seaweed crackers, and so much more lined the shelves. I picked up some of my favorites: Shrimp crackers, crispy snacks made from starch and ground shrimp, and a bag of chocolate yogurt-covered orange slices sitting nearby.
Next, I headed into Aisle 5 for beverages. The vast selection includes soy milk, hojicha, banana milk, corn silk tea, coconut milk and juice, and taro. I grabbed a tall can of Thai tea and a couple of glass bottles of Ramune, a fizzy, fruity, sweet Japanese soda.
Thai tea at H Mart Cherry Hill.Hira Qureshi
I stopped by Aisle 10 for chili oil and pho seasonings. And on Aisle 1, I found instant noodles plentiful — the Japanese-style soba noodle box piqued my interest. At the end of Aisle 9, I saw cups filled with ice in the freezer section and drinks packaged in pouches for easy pouring. I grabbed the peach mango tea to accompany my post-shopping food court lunch.
As I walked deeper into the store, I found Catherine Yao and her mother, Jingjing Dong, in the massive seafood section, picking live crabs from a big box.
Live crab selection at H Mart Cherry Hill.Hira Qureshi
Yao and Dong, who live five minutes from the store, come to the H Mart every week. They come for the fresh seafood — live fish, lobsters, and crabs swim in big tanks near the butchers, while some sit in displays on ice — and frozen meats — think beef bulgogi and pork belly. The two also like exploring the premade foods section next door; I picked up a crab onigiri for the road.
The mother-daughter duo recommended stopping by the vast produce section near the cashiers. “I like the fresh durian, lychees, mangoes, and the gold melons,” Dong said.
Food court at H Mart Cherry Hill.Hira Qureshi
The food court
Around noon, I took the elevator back up to the second floor and ventured back into the food court for lunch.
The court can feel overwhelming, with nine vendors to choose from — think bibimbap, Korean fried chicken, and noodles. Thankfully, Yao and Dong recommended a couple of options: Kyodong Noodles, a Korean-style Chinese noodle restaurant; Daily Seoul, a Korean lifestyle food brand; and Tiger Sugar, the Taiwanese bubble tea vendor I sampled earlier.
While perusing the vendors, I ran into regular Ryan Solot at Mirim, a traditional Korean restaurant. He recommended the cold buckwheat noodle soup. “I didn’t like how it looked at first but then I tried it and it was very good,” he said.
Spicy cold buckwheat noodle soup H Mart Cherry Hill.Hira Qureshi
I ordered the spicy buckwheat noodles with beef at Mirim. The dish was served in a metal bowl with pickled vegetables on the side, chopsticks included.
For Yao, the food court is a great addition to the store.
“I like coming here more now because they have a food court — we go to eat there pretty often, for lunch and dinner sometimes,“ she said.
H Mart Cherry Hill: 1720 Route 70 E, Cherry Hill; 856-489-4611; Monday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
At noon on a bright June Tuesday, the scene at Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza on the Wildwood boardwalk felt more like a South Philly block party than a soft opening.
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino worked the crowd at his new shop — hugging, shaking hands, posing for photos — moving easily among his friends and admirers. At 64, five years removed from the criminal justice system, the onetime alleged head of Philadelphia’s underworld is enjoying a second act that few could have predicted: cheesesteak entrepreneur, podcaster, and social-media personality.
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino (left) and Joe “Lil Snuff” Perri Jr. (right) posing with a customer outside the Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza shop in Wildwood.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Orbiting him with a phone and a grin was Joe “Lil Snuff” Perri Jr. — 30 years his junior — Skinny Joey’s collaborator and the man who helped set him up with a new career. While customers lined up out front for steaks, slices, photos, $35 hats, and $25 T-shirts, Perri was shooting clips for social media.
Their partnership has transformed Merlino from a flashy, polarizing tabloid fixture into a flashy, polarizing Instagram-age brand. Merlino provides the mythology, while Perri supplies the algorithm.
Symbiotically, they are building an unlikely enterprise. Merlino gives Perri access, credibility, and a bigger stage. Perri gives Merlino comic relief, social-media fluency, and a way to be seen as entrepreneurial rather than simply infamous as a reputed former mob boss.
“Without me, there’s no him,” Perri said. “Without him, there’s no me. It’s just a good mix.”
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino joining customers at Skinny Joey’s in Wildwood during its soft opening on June 2. They call themselves “the Schuylkill Girls” (from left): Julie Shelton, Cindy McCullough, and Terry Landy, all of whom now live in Wildwood.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
A ‘mob media’ moment
George Anastasia, who covered organized crime for more than 30 years at The Inquirer and now teaches an organized-crime course at Rowan University, said Merlino’s new career fits a broader moment in mob media.
Former wiseguys, associates, historians, and fans now gather in a true-crime subculture known online as “MobTube,” where the lore is packaged into YouTube shows, Patreon feeds, podcasts, clips, and merch.
Merlino has lived the story that fuels the genre. One of Philadelphia’s most recognizable organized-crime figures, Merlino was convicted in 1990 for his role in a $352,000 armored truck robbery in 1987.
In 2001, he and six co-defendants were tried on federal racketeering charges, including three counts of murder and two of attempted murder. Merlino was acquitted on those counts, but served about 12 years on other charges, including gambling and extortion. A supervised-release violation briefly returned him to prison in 2014, and a second major racketeering case ended in 2018 with a guilty plea to a single illegal-gambling charge after a mistrial. In a separate trial in 2004, he was acquitted of the 1996 killing of Joseph Sodano, an underling in North Jersey. Merlino completed federal supervision in 2021, but he’s been banned from New Jersey casinos since 1988 and from Pennsylvania casinos since a 2016 incident at the former SugarHouse Casino.
And Merlino has made it no secret that he is different from many of the former figures who populate the MobTube genre. Unlike Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, John Alito, and Jimmy Calandra, Merlino never cooperated with prosecutors.
“He saw guys who cooperated come back and become media sensations,” Anastasia said. “And I think he got [annoyed] that these are all guys who, in his view, violated the code, and now they’re making money on that old life. He did his time as a stand-up guy. ‘So [to heck with that] — I’m going to make money, too.’ And he created this brand.”
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino (left) and Joe Perri Jr. on the set of “The Skinny” podcast.Courtesy of Joe Perri Jr.
Perri helped make that legible to a younger audience.
“Lil Snuff is part sycophant and part guide,” Anastasia said. “He’s the one who, in a lot of ways, sets the flow. Joey is going to be Joey, but somebody has to keep bringing him back to the point.”
The rise of Lil Snuff
Before he was Merlino’s co-host, Perri was Lil Snuff.
The nickname came from his father: As a 10-year-old, Joe Sr. turned around when a cousin was calling for a dog named Snuffy. Boom. He was Snuff. When his son was born at Methodist Hospital in 1992, Snuff became Big Snuff.
As a teenager, Lil Snuffbussedtables at Stogie Joe’s, the Saloon, and Fitzwater Cafe. At 18, he joined the stagehands union. At 21, he got a job at Mall Chevrolet in Cherry Hill. The older salesmen had relationships and repeat customers. Perri’s mentor told him that he needed a lane.
It was 2013, and social media was beginning to reshape promotion. Perri started making his own brassy, unscripted commercials. “Selling Chevys for less” became his tagline.
He also made videos about gambling and food, his two passions. He was not famous, but he was visible in the South Philly-to-South Jersey social media corridor where restaurants, sports, betting, family, and neighborhood identity blur into one feed.
At the same time, Perri said, he was abusing pills. In 2014, at 22, his parents found him a rehab center in South Florida. To make sure he got there safely, they called a family friend whose Italian restaurant in Boca Raton had recently opened:
Joey Merlino.
“My father grew up with his grandfather,” Merlino said, explaining the bond. “I grew up with his father. I’ve known him since he was born.”
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino in 2014 at the Boca Raton restaurant bearing his name.Terry Renna / For The Inquirer
Perri said it took several attempts before recovery stuck. He has been sober since Sept. 11, 2016. “I’m big with recovery,” he said. “That’s the main thing in my life. I put sobriety first and then everything after that.”
Merlino’s — where Merlino was maitre d’ because his legal situation then precluded ownership — closed in 2016, just before the feds arrested Merlino at his home in Boca in the lead-up to his second racketeering case. “If I didn’t have this trouble, it would still be open,” Merlino said earlier this month.
After Merlino attained freedom in July 2021, producers called with movie, television, and book deals. Merlino turned them all down. “Nothing seemed right,” Merlino said. Someone brought up the idea of a podcast.
“I didn’t even know what that was,” Merlino said.
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino leaving the federal courthouse in Manhattan after being sentenced on Oct. 17, 2018.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
His friend Raymond “Wags” Wagner explained the concept and suggested a loose format built around food and sports betting. Actor Kevin Connolly of Entourage fame, who was involved early as a producer, told Merlino that he needed a co-host.
“They said, ‘Who would you want?’” Perri said. “They were sending him people, and he was like, ‘I’m not doing nothing with these people.’”
Then Ray Wags suggested Perri.
“Joey was like, ‘100 percent. Get him on the phone,’” Perri said. “Kevin Connolly said, ‘Send me your videos.’ I sent him my videos, and he said, ‘You’re the guy.’ The rest was history.”
The world of ‘MobTube’
Merlino and Perri launched the video podcast in 2023. Viewers are not just watching Merlino talk about the old life. They see him bust Perri’s chops about eating too much and mock his parlays. They get gambling tips, watch them interview athletes and celebrities — all part of a South Philly generational comedy.
Perri describes it in family terms. “My dad’s my dad, but he’s also my best friend, too,” Perri said. “We gamble together. We go out together. We have fun together. So they see me and Joey as that, and they can’t figure out how we mix so good.”
“He’s good,” Merlino said. “I’m old, he’s young. He talks good, he’s funny. He’s a pain in the balls, but it’s a good fit.”
They began The Skinny podcast on YouTube, but now focus more on Patreon, where the content is unfiltered. And better monetized. Perri says TheSkinny has 1,600 Patreon subscribers paying $15.95 a month. He said their social-media pages combined average 30 million views a month.
Perri’s wife, Danielle, handles bookings and schedules. “I produce,” Perri said. “I cut the clips. I do everything. It’s me and Joey. Two-man show.”
A wider audience
When they started, Perri was still selling cars at Mall Chevrolet. But the now-shuttered dealership got tired of people showing up hoping to see Merlino instead of test-driving a Suburban.
Perri quit. The show grew.Merlino’s reinvention has coincided with a broader shift in the gambling world. Legal sportsbooks, now ubiquitous on television and online, have largely supplanted the corner bookmaker, turning an activity once associated with organized crime into a mainstream consumer business. Guests span sports, hip-hop, gambling, and entertainment, including Wallo267, Fat Joe, Ric Flair, and Bernard Hopkins.
Each booking widened his audience, and Merlino was being absorbed into a broader celebrity ecosystem.
Last October, Netflix released Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia, a docuseries revisiting the violent 1990s power struggle between John Stanfa and Merlino’s younger faction. It steered even more viewers to Merlino and Perri’s world.
‘Skinny Joey,’ wit’
Then came the cheesesteaks.
One night, Perri, Merlino, and friends were playing poker. Merlino wanted cheesesteaks. Perri said he’d make them.
“He’s like, ‘You can’t make cheesesteaks,’” Perri said. “I said, ‘Are you nuts? I’ve been making them my whole life.’”
Perri cooked some. “He was like, ‘This is the best f— cheesesteak ever,’” Perri said. “He said, ‘Let’s open up a cheesesteak place.’ I said, ‘All right. Call it Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks.’ And that was it.”
The first shop opened in March 2025 at 3020 S. Broad St., near the sports complex. From the start, Skinny Joey’s was more than a sandwich shop. It was a set. The shop leaned into Merlino’s notoriety; the sandwiches are wrapped in a collage of newspaper articles about his past.
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino (left) working the grill beside Joe “Lil Snuff” Perri Jr. at the Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia at its opening in March 2025.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Celebrities showed up: Jason Kelce, Landon Dickerson, Mack Wilson. A customer eating a cheesesteak was good content. A recognizable person eating one on camera was better.
The restaurant also became a magnet for the kind of drama that fuels digital engagement: online beef. Podcaster Gene Borrello, a former Bonnano crime family associate and Merlino antagonist, weighed in last year on an apparent feud between Skinny Joey’s camp and Frank Olivieri of Pat’s King of Steaks. Merlino and Perri had taken issue with a video posted by Olivieri — whose great-uncle invented the steak sandwich — in which he chided shops that chop the meat on the grill. Like most online food feuds, this seems to have subsided.
Then came the deal for Wildwood, where Skinny Joey’s replaced Joe’s Pizzeria, which had been on the boardwalk at Magnolia Avenue for 15 years. There, Skinny Joey’s added pizza and stromboli, which are not sold at the South Philadelphia location.
Reflections in the pizza display case on the boardwalk at Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza in Wildwood.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The pizza recipe comes from Vito’s on Haddonfield Berlin Road in Cherry Hill, and the stromboli from Pizza Shack at 15th and Oregon in South Philadelphia, both owned by Skinny Joey’s business partners Stephen Casasanto and John Fioravanti, whom Merlino also described as longtime friends.
More locations are planned. Perri said a Boothwyn shop is expected around Sept. 1, and several others are in the pipeline.
Bypassing the gatekeepers
Merlino is an extreme case of a recent phenomenon. People with complicated histories — criminal, scandalous, controversial, or simply overexposed — no longer need traditional gatekeepers to reintroduce themselves. They can speak directly to followers and monetize the attention.
Perri is not a journalist, of course, or a publicist, exactly. He is not merely a manager, producer, or sidekick. He is something in between — a new kind of local media operator.
He knows the scene, and how to make content feel unscripted even when the business behind it is deliberate. He is close enough to Merlino to bust his chops and deferential enough to preserve the hierarchy. He can translate Merlino to younger audiences without making him seem managed.
Perri softens Merlino without sanding him down. Merlino still curses, rants, and mocks rivals. Anyone they disagree with is a “bedbug.”
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino greets a table of customers at Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza in Wildwood.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“At the end of the day, Joey isn’t going to change who he is for anybody,” Perri said. “If he can’t talk the way he wants to talk, what’s the point?”
That is part of the appeal and part of the discomfort. The audience knows Merlino’s history. They may see him as funny, defiant, loyal, misunderstood, or simply entertaining.
“There’s a segment of the American population that has always been fascinated with the outlaw: Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Don Corleone, Al Capone,” Anastasia said. “What the internet has provided is: Here are these guys in their own words. Are they being genuine? I don’t know. You can say that about any personality. But here’s a look at them without any filter.”
The filter used to be people like Anastasia.
“I was, in a lot of ways, the middleman between the people who were interested in this and the guys who were doing it,” he said. “And people who are interested in this don’t need the middleman anymore. They just go online and listen to whoever they want to listen to.”
Cristian Custodio-Aquino, 28, of Portland, was charged in the stabbing death of Michael Anthony, a well-liked South Jersey veterinarian.
The body of Anthony, 45, was discovered on the front lawn of his home on Sharrowvale Road early on a December morning, prosecutors said.
Anthony had been stabbed in the body, neck, and head. Detectives soon linked the killing to Custodio-Aquino using DNA from a pair of prescription eyeglasses he had left at the scene and by tracking his vehicle entering and leaving the neighborhood.
He was arrested in California and has since been incarcerated in a New Jersey correctional facility.
With his guilty plea, Custodio-Aquino is expected to be sentenced to 30 years in state prison without the possibility of parole, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.
Grace C. MacAulay, the county prosecutor, called Anthony’s death tragic, saying it had deeply affected the Camden County community.
“This guilty plea represents a significant step toward justice and ensures the defendant will be held accountable for his actions,” she said in a statement.
Custodio-Aquino’s defense lawyer had said there was little evidence tying him to the crime, but prosecutors pieced together what they said was a compelling case.
In addition to the eyeglasses investigators linked to the Peru native, prosecutors were able to identify Custodio-Aquino’s black Nissan Altima entering Anthony’s neighborhood on the morning of the Dec. 10 killing, and later leaving the scene.
After Anthony’s murder, prosecutors said, Custodio-Aquino drove to Fresno, Calif., where he stayed with a friend. He also wiped his phone and attempted to sell his vehicle. Investigators later recovered samples of Anthony’s blood from inside the car.
Michael Anthony, 45, a South Jersey veterinarian, was found dead outside his home in Cherry Hill.Courtesy of Haddon Vet
All the while, prosecutors said, Custodio-Aquino searched the internet for news stories that mentioned Anthony’s killing and his memorial service.
Investigators eventually learned that Custodio-Aquino had a previous relationship with Anthony’s partner, Kyle Bartsch, and killed Anthony out of jealousy. Custodio-Aquino and Bartsch had lived together in Haddon Township but separated in 2021 after a domestic dispute, prosecutors said.
Not long before Anthony’s murder, he and Bartsch had communicated with Custodio-Aquino and knew that he was returning to the East Coast, according to prosecutors.
The death of Anthony, a divorced father of two, rattled neighbors in the Barclay Farm section of Cherry Hill.
His body was discovered facedown on the front lawn by his 16-year-old son, who had gone to look for his father after he did not return from an early morning walk, prosecutors said.
Relatives described Anthony as devoted to his family and two sons, and after his death, tributes poured in from friends, neighbors, and people whose pets he treated at his Haddon Heights veterinary clinic.
Bartsch said in an interview last year that he was devastated by the “sudden and senseless” loss of his partner. He described Anthony, his partner of three years, as “an exceptional person, universally loved by those who knew him.”
The school board faced pushback recently after one of its members suggested dropping an African American history course requirement amid a budget crunch, which was later withdrawn. Here’s what to know. Also this week, a township resident will become the next artistic director of an area theater, two local spots will be streaming World Cup games, plus, the Radin’s Deli sandwich our reporter loved.
P.S. The Inquirer is launching a new South Jersey morning newsletter next week. Staring Monday, you might see the free daily edition in your inbox. Not already signed up? Get it here. Get to know newsletter editor Taylor Allen and her South Jersey essentials here. And don’t worry, we’ll still be coming to you with Cherry Hill-specific news every week.
Cherry Hill will maintain an African American history course graduation requirement after a board member suggested making it an elective.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Cherry Hill Public Schools will keep its African American history course as is after a school board member suggested dropping it as a graduation requirement amid budget woes.
The suggestion last month to instead make the course an elective got pushback from students and the community alike, ultimately prompting board member Renee Cherfane to withdraw her proposal.
In 2021, Cherry Hill was the first New Jersey district to require such a course for graduation.
Cherry Hill resident Amina Robinson has been named the next artistic director of Theatre Horizon in Norristown. Robinson gained acclaim in 2018 when directing The Color Purple, for which she became the first Black woman to win the Barrymore Award for outstanding direction of a musical. The Inquirer’s Rosa Cartagena spoke with her about the new role and her passion for theater.
World Cup matches are kicking off tomorrow, with local games at Lincoln Financial Field starting Sunday. Don’t have tickets? Soccer Post Cherry Hill will be streaming games on its seven TVs and later this summer it’ll host a youth soccer camp with a mock-World Cup tournament. AMC Theatres on Route 38 will also have viewings of select games with Spanish-language broadcasts.
Applications are open for qualifying residents interested in living in Hampton Square, the newly built affordable housing community at 614 Hampton Rd. Qualifying applicants will be put on a waitlist for 45 available units and then randomly selected. Hampton Square offers studio and two- and three-bedroom units for those with very low, low, and moderate incomes. Applications are due by Aug. 7.
The township has made changes to its household appliances and metal pickups. Starting this week, the township will collect appliance and metal items on Thursdays. Residents must make an appointment for pickup by 3 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Four people and two dogs were potentially exposed to a rabid bat in a Cherry Hill home recently. On Monday, a state lab confirmed that the bat found was positive for rabies. The dogs were up to date on their vaccines but will be confined for four months.
Heads up for drivers: Work continues on Kresson Road, which will have a partial closure westbound between Springdale and Cropwell Roads from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Friday. Starting today, Kenilworth Avenue will be closed between Chapel Avenue and Route 38 from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through Friday. Cooper Landing Road will also be closed between Georgia Avenue and Route 70 overnight from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. through Friday.
Appliances Outlet is hosting a grand opening from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for its new Cherry Hill location at 1811 Route 70.
The former Cherry Hill Diner, which closed in 2023, was demolished last week to make way for a new car wash. The Courier Post captured photos of it coming down.
🏫 Schools Briefing
As the school year winds down next week, there will be elementary clap-outs on Tuesday and middle school graduations on Wednesday. Next Thursday are the high school graduations, and it’s also the last day of classes for the school year. See the district’s full calendar here.
Cherry Hill Public Library will have a pop-up graduation photo spot set up in the lobby starting tomorrow and running through next Saturday, complete with props.
6abc recently profiled the Domenica Foundation, a South Jersey organization supporting underserved communities, including by providing scholarships for students to attend Catholic schools. The foundation recently celebrated the graduation of its class of 2026 from Camden CatholicHigh School in Cherry Hill. See the segment here.
🍽️ On our Plate
One of the best things an Inquirer reporter ate last week? A hot corned beef sandwich at Radin’s Deli. Kicking it up a notch, reporter Beatrice Forman added chopped liver to the famously massive sandwich at the Evesham Road spot, which she said gave it “multi-dimensional flavors.” She added: “Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”
A new burger joint is now open in Cherry Hill. Located at 906 Route 70, Slap Burger serves smash burgers, chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, loaded fries, and milkshakes.
La Cita Authentic Mexican Restaurant is one of the best spots for Mexican food in the state, according to a recent list from NJ.com, which ranked the Marlton Pike eatery No. 13. It’s known for its tacos, but also offers other classics like fajitas, enchiladas, burritos, and quesadillas.
🎳 Things to Do
🎶 Twilight Concert Series: Max Weinberg’s Jukebox, which specializes in old-school tunes, headlines this week’s event. ⏰ Thursday, June 11, 8 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Cooper River Park Jack Curtis Stadium
🏊♀️ Youth Splash and Dash: Kids ages 7 to 12 can compete in three age-specific divisions in this running and swimming competition. ⏰ Sunday, June 14, 1-3 p.m. 💵 $32.80 📍 Katz JCC
🗓️ VinChelle’s Juneteenth Celebration: The drag show ahead of the holiday will celebrate Black culture. ⏰ Sunday, June 14, 2:30-5 p.m. 💵 $19.03 📍 Vera
The home has a covered front porch and a two-car garage.Virtual Vista | Courtesy of Jackie DiAntonio/Keller Williams – Main Street
Located in the Springdale neighborhood, this four-bedroom home has multi-level living thanks to its layout. The main level features a foyer, living room, dining room, and eat-in kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. There are four bedrooms on the upper level, including a primary suite with a walk-in closet, while the lower level has a family room with a brick fireplace, a full bathroom, and a bonus room. There’s also a finished basement and a fenced backyard.
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