Obituaries

Jackson Boy, 14, Dies After Battle With Brain Cancer

Joshua Stanton Cramer was celebrated in academics and athletics

An Ocean County teen celebrated for his academic and athletic achievements has died following a battle with brain cancer, according to a death announcement.

Joshua Stanton Cramer, 14, of Jackson, died Tuesday after what an obituary posted to the Timothy E. Ryan Home for Funerals calls a "courageous" fight against Diffused Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a rare and aggressive form of brain stem cancer.

The teen, who was born in Lakewood, attended Ocean Day School there and won the Citizenship award 4 years in a row. He transferred to Switlik Elementary School and won the Ocean County Guidance Councilors Caring Award, an honor given to one fifth grade student at each county middle school, according to the obituary. At Goetz Middle School, he was once awarded student of the month.

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The New Jersey chapter of the national Make-A-Wish foundation, which grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions, will turn off the lights on the castle on its Monroe headquarters in honor of Cramer, according to the organization's Facebook page.

"We are grateful to have met Josh, and honored to have granted his fondest wish,'' the page reads.

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Cramer played baseball and football and was awarded the Unsung Hero award by the New Jersey Football Officials Association, Jersey Shore Chapter, in 2011, the obituary reads.

He is survived by his parents, Walter H. Cramer and Michele Kiely Cramer, an older brother, Jason Maxwell Cramer, as well as grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Friends and relatives will be received by family on Friday, June 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Timothy E. Ryan Home for Funerals DeBow Chapel in Jackson. A funeral mass will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 2, at Saint Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, also in the township.


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