HO-HO-KUS, N.J. (WCBS 880) — Domenic Parisi, a longtime New Jersey barber who for nine years cut Richard Nixon's hair when the former president lived in Bergen County towards the end of his life, has died of COVID-19.
Burning candles, bouquets of flowers and sympathy notes taped to the window are forming a makeshift memorial at the front door of the Ho-Ho-Kus barber shop where Parisi worked for 50 years.
Parisi lost his battle with COVID-19 on Friday and there is deep mourning in his circle of family and friends, and among the thousands who had gotten a haircut and bantered with him over the last half-century at his Domenic & Pietro Barber Shop.
Parisi was a consummate professional who remembered the names of his thousands of customers and who had generations of families pass through his shop.
For nine years, he had a special customer: Richard M. Nixon.
Our Rich Lamb interviewed Parisi after the president's death in 1994. Parisi told Lamb that he and Nixon never talked politics, but instead spoke of family or sports. He also said the former president signed autographs for other customers and was nice to the kids in the shop.
Parisi was beloved in Ho-Ho-Kus and was a pillar of the community. One note taped to the window of the barber shop reads, "The world has lost a great man, loved him like family, because he was."
"Domenic became a friend about 11 years ago, He taught me so many life lessons that he didn't even know he taught. Just from watching him and seeing how he treated people, he was so kind and generous and loyal," said Jay Valli, who stopped by the shop to remember his friend and pay his respects.
Parisi was 77.