Memorial Fund Started to Aid Volunteer Firefighter's Family

An online fundraiser has been started to help the family of a 24-year-old Madison resident and volunteer Green Village firefighter whose body was found this week after a three-day search.

The Stephen "Junior" Marano Memorial Fund was set up "to help aid the Marano Family with the burden of having to lay Stephen 'Junior' Marano to his eternal resting place," according to a page on the website GiveForward. The beneficiary is Stephen's mother, Mary.

The effort aims to raise $5,000.

Stephen Marano was reported missing Saturday morning. A search of the area where his truck was found on Brittin Road in Chatham Township, including the Great Swamp, quickly started. He was found Monday afternoon by fellow members of the Green Village Fire Department near a field by where his truck was parked.

Visitation is 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Madison Memorial Home, 159 Main Street, and a funeral mass is 10 a.m. Friday at St. Vincent Martyr Church, 26 Green Village Road.

"Steve was a wonderful man, great friend and dedicated firefighter," the Green Village Fire Department said Monday night. "He is greatly missed and will always be loved and remembered by his friends and Brothers/Sisters of the Green Village Fire Department."

The obituary for Stephen Marano says donations to the Green Village Fire Department in his memory are appreciated.

Marano, a lifelong Madison resident and the third of four brothers, was a lieutenant with the Green Village Fire Department, which serves parts of Chatham Township and Harding. He worked as a waiter and bartender at the Park Avenue Club and the Madison Hotel.