Matthew D. Balkovic

August 29, 1938 - March 21, 2016

Holmdel Funeral Home

26 South Holmdel Road

Holmdel, NJ 07733

Saturday 3/26, 10:30 am

Matthew was born in Braddock Hills, PA, and resided in Holmdel, NJ for over forty years. Prior to his retirement, he was an electrical engineer at Bell Labs, and later AT&T and NCR. He will be remembered as a loving and devoted husband, father, brother, and grandfather. Matt lived an active life, enjoying his time bike riding, walking the beach, and playing golf. He was a devoted grandfather spending time with his grandchildren watching them participate in all their activities including academic competition, sports, music, theater and scouting and appeared as guest speaker in many of their classrooms. He also enjoyed spending time with his family and friends especially at his beach house in SeaPointe Village Diamond Beach, NJ. Matt was an avid reader, logging hundreds of books per year and loved discussing his knowledge and making recommendations based on who he thought would benefit from it. He also authored two autobiographies both titled, Keeping My Options Open to share his family and personal history and welcomed feedback from all those who read them. Matthew is predeceased by his parents, and his sister, Dolores Karish. He is survived by his best friend and wife of 56 years, Roberta Balkovic and his children, Mark Balkovic and his wife, Annemarie, Neptune, John Balkovic and his wife Donna, Wall, Janice Migliazza and her husband Giovanni, Holmdel; his sisters, Mildred Sabol, and Kathy Burns; and grandchildren, Christina, Matthew, Michael, Paige, Robert, Courtney, Claudia, Corinne, and Andrew. Visitation will be held Friday, March 25th from 3pm to 7pm, at the Holmdel Funeral Home, 26 South Holmdel Road, A Funeral Service will be offered at the funeral home on Saturday March 26th at 10:30 am. Entombment will then follow at the Holmdel Cemetery Mausoleum. In lieu of flowers donations can be made in Matthew’s memory to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, www.stjude.org. To share a favorite memory of Matthew, please visit his Book of Memories at www.holmdelfuneralhome.com.

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Saturday 3/26, 10:30 am

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Where do I start? Like Matt would have done, to the point. In my 35 years at Bell Labs Matt was by far the best boss I ever had, bar none. Don’t get me wrong, there were times I wanted to murder him. He expected you to perform and do your job (shock, shock). He expected nothing less than the best you could do and then, oh by the way, add another 100%. Matt had an incredible work ethic. For example, we were supposed to have a staff meeting one day but got about 18 inches of snow during the night before. So I get a call from Matt. “Where are you?” he says. “Home, of course, buried under snow and can’t get out” I replied, thinking something along the lines of “like any rational person who can’t find their driveway”. He had cross country skied to work and was expecting all of us to show up for the staff meeting. No problem, he says. Pete has a 4 wheel drive and will pick you up for our meeting on his way into work. We had the staff meeting and worked the rest of the day. No snow days for Matt. He also taught me SO MUCH. My favorite “Matt-isms”: “Go Slow” (as in, make no decision before you really have to and have all the facts), “One Pager” (write it on only one page and he really meant that, as I learned the hard way), “Take Care of Your People” (Matt was the most caring boss I ever had), “You Can’t Slip Your Schedule More Than The Time Remaining” (I tested this once, and once only, and was taught an extremely painful lesson)and “Just Outwork Them” (when confronted with corporate bureaucrats) are just a few of his many lessons which I passed on to another generation of managers. Matt was also a dear, dear friend. He and I shared many a dozen oysters on the half shell prior to catching one of our “more than I can count” red-eye flights back to NJ from the Bay Area. Then going home, showering and putting in a full day or more of work. That was my Matt. And he was the Best Man at my very small wedding. I miss Matt so much.

Dear Roberta & Family: Our deepest sympathy go out to all of you. Although Matt is no longer with you, always remember that your memories of him will never fade away. Your in our thoughts and prayers. God Bless Jane & Bob Baker

Matt and I became friends at Bell Labs, where we both worked and where my husband delighted in Matt as boss, colleague, and friend. We all went through some trying times at work, with downsizing, mergers, and seemingly unending changes. Matt never lost focus on the central importance of supporting people. In tough times, he was always a voice of both reason and compassion. After I did a Myers-Briggs workshop with Matt and his direct reports, he thought it would be fun to do the same with his family. We did that, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Roberta and the 'kids' better. Matt and Roberta exemplify the best in a loving and supportive couple, caring parents and grandparents. Over the years, our friendship deepened, and when Rick and I got married. Matt and Roberta were two of the three people we wanted at our wedding. Matt was the best man. Matt's love of reading inspired many conversations about books. His own writing was and is a treasure to me. It is always too soon to say good-bye to anyone we love. Our hearts go out to Roberta and to all the family, as well as to all Matt's friends. We feel lucky to be counted among them. Matt's kindness, humor, wisdom and compassion will continue to inspire us. We send much love and profound sympathy to Roberta and to the family, who have lost their dear one.

It was no surprise to learn that Matt passed away on the first day of Spring as Matt had such a spirit of renewal. I worked for Matt many years ago at ATT/NCR in Middletown and Woodbrdge. Matt used to come into the office on a rainy and say there's no better place to be on a rainy day - that was Matt. One time while working for Matt I asked him if I could take a half day in the middle of a beautiful Spring day. Matt was the only boss that I would have asked that of or who would have allowed it. That's the kind of person he was. I consider myself fortunate to have worked for such a legend. I am sure that Roberta and the family will miss Matt terribly, I hope that they will be comforted by their very special memories.

Please accept our deepest condolences for your family's loss.