Obituary of Wayne Ben Ali

For Wayne’s friends and loved ones we will be making it possible to attend online via livestream please click on the link below:

Livestream will start on December 30^th at 11:00 AM

https://client.tribucast.com/tcid/82634043

 

The family regrets that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the funeral service and burial will be private.

Wayne C. Ben Ali, 69, of West Orange, passed away on December 20, 2020.

He was born in New York City to Marita and Laryle Ben Ali and moved to Montclair, New Jersey at age 11. Wayne graduated from Montclair High School and received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Rutgers University-Newark.

He spent his career in the insurance business, mostly as an underwriter and risk assessor.  He was extremely proud of his most recent position as a senior risk analyst in the treasury department of the Port Authority of NY and NJ.

Outside of the workplace, Wayne had several passionate interests, including a devout appreciation for music and martial arts.  And his ancestry, which was African-American with some Bangladeshi roots, helped spark his interest in and curiosity of history and genealogy.  As a young man, Wayne was a student of the Isshin Shorin Ji Ryu Okinawa Te system of karate.  He was a 5th-degree black belt, competed in tournaments and for a brief time owned a martial arts school in Belleville.  He was also a voracious reader, and enjoyed an occasional visit to the gun range to target shoot with friends.  More recently, he developed a love for rueda de casino, a Cuban group social dance similar to salsa, which he practiced weekly with friends at First Presbyterian & Trinity Church in South Orange.

Most notably, Wayne was a devout musician and something of an amateur jazz and blues musicologist.  For decades he played the guitar and piano, as well as alto and baritone saxophones.  He lived to share his passion for music with others, encouraging them to play, sing or just bang something at the monthly jam sessions he arranged for family and friends.

He is survived by his wife, Wanda Martinez, his brother, Russell, nieces and nephews Layla, Ulali, and Omar, great-nephew River, his aunt Adelaide Khalique, his cousins, as well as a sister-in-law, Maria, and brothers-in-law Hector, Will, Randy, and David.