Michael Sean Votor

Mike, Hun, Dad, Big V, Jefe, Mr. Mike also known as Michael Sean Votor, born September 14, 1968, Hackensack NJ. Mike passed away September 28, 2020 after a valiant fight of Stage 4 Cancer. He was surrounded by loved ones that will continue to pay tribute remembering Mikes love for life and live as he did. Mike, formerly from Paramus, NJ, graduated from Saint Josephs Regional High School located in Montvale, New Jersey in 1986 with a full scholarship to MIT. At that time, Mike was working for a tree company. One day he was up in a tree and the gear he was wearing failed. He fell 30 feet and the doctors werent sure if would ever walk again. After multiple surgeries and 2 years of recovery, Mike had the most perseverance Ive ever seen. Clearly proved those doctors wrong! After he recovered, he worked for Scenic Landscaping. Mike would ride his bike to and from work every day. We met a year into his recovery; I was living in NJ but moving back to Florida. Mike was driving me home one rainy night, pulled over, told me to get out of the car then asked me to marry him. We married in November 1988. We moved to Florida where Mike worked 3 jobs as a fry cook, a grounds keeper, and carpet cleaner on the weekends. We decided to move back to NJ. Mike reached out to Mitch, the owner and Scenic Landscaping. Mitch was like a father to him. This was where he worked for the last 30 years. Hed never be one to sit behind a desk. I told him I fell in love with him because of his strong working hands. His mind never stopped either; he was "a jack of all trades", our "MacGyver." He loved to watch the History Channel and Discovery Channel; his mind was like a sponge, always learning something and was full of random knowledge. He also had a thing for unique knives. Recently Troy, Chads brother, made him one from hand. Mike was so honored and impressed, of course giving his famous critique, but truly was blown away by the gift. Family was by far, the most important to Mike. He loved watching his children grow, and was always "working hard for our survival." Our marriage was faced with many outside adversities together; we managed to get through it all. Each challenge made us grow stronger. If one of us had a weakness, the other one had the strength. Mike was my biggest supporter when our kids were older and he encouraged me to pursue my Chef career. One of his best memories was being my sous chef when I did a cooking segment on news 12 NJ. Mike also loved our family traditions. Every Christmas, hed wait until the last minute on December 24th to fill up THE largest stocking known to man for me to go through. Gingerbread contests became a new tradition, every year switching up the challenge. He loved to go pumpkin and apple picking. He would bring his own tools to help us get the perfect apple at the top of the tree. One of Mikes favorite hobbies was eating all the food I would make. He always had an impressive snack bowl that could feed 2-3 people, yet managed to stay in good shape. He also loved to plug in and jam to his music. He was known for his quick wit and somewhat dark humor, and his cryptic way of texting. He loved to fish, any chance hed get, he would take the kids out or gather guys from work go out on a charter boat. The ocean was our favorite place as a family. Wed take the kids on vacation to beaches along the East coast. The Outer Banks in North Carolina was our favorite place, filled with so many memories. This vacation began to grow; cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and our kids friends would come along. It became a tradition that Mike would be teaching how to crab at night and fish off the surf. November 6th, 2019, Mike was experiencing liver failure and was diagnosed with Stage 4 . As a family this impacted us on so many levels. Doctor said we needed to prepare for the worst. Once again, Mikes perseverance and support from his family, friends and community kept him fighting. He stabilized the cancer for 5 months, enduring handfuls of medicine, chemo, immunotherapy, and sleeplessness nights. Still through all that pain, he never gave up, he said "no f***ing way, bring on the treatments." He fought hard to get to back to Aruba with his daughter Ashley and Doug, to get to Heather and Chads wedding and to get to OBX one more time. We even added a few along the way seeing Mikey get engaged, going snow tubing, having a vow renewal surrounded by loved ones and fulfilling my dream of giving me a beautiful garden with a pergola. A few days before Mike passed, the entire fleet of Scenic trucks and families came down our street with police escort. He was too weak to make it outside but Mike was screaming back saying "f**k yeah" with everything he had. He held on that weekend because he knew wed planned his cousins to come visit, just another testament to his will to live for others. Mike was known to be an honorable, honest man with no "gram" or social media and an even greater husband, best friend, father. Mike was preceded in death by his mother Camille, Aunt Anita Locilento, Grandfather, Errol Votor, Grandmother, Mary Votor, Father, Errol Votor, Grandmother, Florence Murray. Mike is survived by his devoted caring, supportive co-conspirator, wife Lisa Votor, his 3 children Michael, Heather and Ashley, his dogs Oz and Thor, Mother in law, Patricia Quinlan, Father in law, John Quinlan, Sister in law, Cristin Quinlan, Brother in law, Mick Quinlan, as well as Son in law, Chad, Doug, Kassandra, The Rademacher Family, The Melofchik family, The Locilento family and The Fab 5. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the GoFundMe page. https://www.gofundme.com/f/tttmj-support-for-scenic-employee-michael-s-votor The new limits on indoor gatherings for facilities is 25% of the maximum amount of people in a building. Morrison Funeral Home will be able to accept 25 people at a time wearing masks and practice social distancing Visitation The Morrison Funeral Home Friday, October 02, 2020 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM Email Details 86 Bartholdi ave.Butler, New Jersey 07405 Directions