Abram “Abe” Hascup, 80, of Adelphia passed away on Monday, March 7, 2016 at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center, New Brunswick. Mr. Hascup resided and grew up in Saddle River Township (now Saddle Brook) in Bergen County. His father’s family were all vegetable growers and his grandfather was known as the “Rhubarb King”.

When Abe was five years old, his father gave him a child’s wagon, loaded it with vegetables, and sent him around the block selling produce. This started Abe in the retail business, which he continued for life.

At the age of 16, with his Dad’s guidance, he went into business for himself. He wholesaled his vegetables in the Paterson, NJ Farmer’s Market, and continued there until the 1980s.

After completing high school, he rented farmland in Caldwell Township (now Fairfield) in Essex County. He then started growing rhubarb like his grandfather, using the Hascup root stock.

As time went by, he ran out of land to rent in Caldwell Township. He then purchased his present farm on Route 524 in the Adelphia section of Howell Township in 1963. He grew several acres of all types of vegetables to sell retail and wholesale. He sometimes planted 40,000 tomato plants per year, his favorite crop. He often joked that the red stuff in his veins was not blood, but tomato juice.

Abe started a retail garden center in 1966 on his property on Route 524 which he operated until the end of 2003.

He continued to sell quality plants and fresh vegetables in outdoor markets on weekends. He loved the natural part of God’s world. He spent more time outdoors than indoors. He loved what his mother said “The TV is a waste of good electricity.”

Abe ran for the Howell Township governing body several times. He was a real American who believed in the Bible and the US Constitution with its first Ten Amendments only. Abe believed we should live each day mindful that the Lord may be giving us just one more chance to take back and save America. He was a life member of the America Free Press Readership Council, Gun Owners of America, John Birch Society, Citizens Committee to Keep and Bear Arms and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. Abe was a member of the Second Amendment Foundation, the US English, Inc., St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center, Alliance Defense Fund, and its forerunner, Citizens for Decency Through Law, Inc., The National, New Jersey State and Monmouth County Constitution Party, The Conservative Caucus and the Western Islands Adventurers Club. He was a past member of the National Right to Work Committee and the National Federation of Independent Business.

Abe was a past Director and Vice President of The Paterson Market Growers, Inc. He served as a Director of the Conservative Caucus, Third Congressional District. He also served as a Monmouth County Chairman for The Populist Party.

He also served on the National Advisory Board of the American Security Council and on Illinois Congressman Philip M. Cranes’ Presidential Advisory Committee. He was a member of the Friends of Former North Carolina’s U.S. Senator Jesse Helms’ Red, White and Blue Club. Abe was a longtime supporter and advocate of The Ludwig Von Mises Institute educating our youth on the Free Enterprise System and Austrian Economics. He is survived by many friends.

Visitation will be held at the Clayton & McGirr Funeral Home, 100 Elton-Adelphia Road (Route 524), Freehold Township on Sunday, March 13, 2016 from 3:00 to 7:00 PM. Friends are invited to attend his 11:00 AM funeral service at the funeral home on Monday, March 14, 2016 with the Rev. Thomas Detamore officiating. Interment will follow in Adelphia Cemetery, Howell. For information, directions or condolence messages, visit www.claytonfuneralhome.com

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