Gabriella Hillgrube worked for her father at Jasper Spine Institute, according to online records. Guiliana had just turned 2 in June, according to the family’s social media posts.

“Dr. Jasper was a very good friend of mine and also one of the top endoscopic surgeons in the world for spinal stenosis and disc degeneration,” wrote Chris Alderucci, a longtime friend and associate. “I worked with him for about 10 years in the early 2000s when I worked for Joimax. I’ve seen him perform hundreds of cases and traveled around the world to help him teach endoscopic discectomy to surgeons from many, many countries around the globe.”

“He lived his life in a fast lane as he loved to race cars, ride his motorcycles and boats. He loved his airplane and helicopter. But most of all he loved his life and his family and friends. He was one of the most genuine surgeons that cared about his patients and the staff that worked with him,” Alderucci wrote. “There will be many surgeons and patients from around the world that will be sad to hear this news. Love you paisan and will miss you immensely,” he wrote.

“A man with a big heart and a kind soul,” Galina Pinto wrote. “Great pilot, great friend, great doctor.”

“Gabe was one of the most unique people I’ve ever met in my life,” wrote Dave Patnaude, calling the news “one of the most horrific phone calls I ever got.”

Historic sites, community nonprofits, nonprofit media outlets and local America250 initiatives in Morris County will benefit from more than $12 million in supportive grants announced from two well-heeled sources.

The Morris County Board of County Commissioners approved $4.92 million at its July 8 meeting to help fund the restoration and protection of 35 historic projects in 20 municipalities. They range from almost $350,000 for the Orchard Street Cemetery Gatehouse in Dover to $18,560 to restore a 19th-century military rail car.

On July 9, the Morristown-based F.M. Kirby Foundation also announced $8.3 million in grants aimed at Morris County nonprofits along with other “geographic areas of interest” in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and upstate New York.

County preserving history

Morris County has shown a long commitment to preserving its history, which dates back to pre-Revolution days, and has awarded more than $61 million from a Preservation Trust Fund since voters approved it in 2003.

About 86% of this year’s nearly $5 million total will fund construction work at 16 projects, while the rest will support 19 non-construction projects, including preservation planning, preparation of construction documents and one acquisition project.

“As Morris County celebrates the 250^th Anniversary of our nation’s independence this year, we are reminded of the importance of preserving our heritage, not only because of Morris County’s deep roots in the American Revolution, but also because of the local people and places that played significant roles in our great nation’s evolution throughout history,” Commissioner Tom Mastrangelo said in the award announcement.

One of the largest grants went to the ongoing restoration of the gatehouse at the Orchard Street Cemetery, the final resting home for many prominent former residents of Dover and Wharton, including military veterans of six wars stretching back to the War of 1812.

Although it is a treasured local landmark, the cemetery is owned by the nonprofit Dover Cemetery Association, and all upkeep, including preservation efforts, is done by a handful of volunteers.

Other family plots were reserved for those who gained their wealth from the iron-mining industry in the region, which dates back to the early 18th century.

“All those mine sinkholes you hear about on Route 80, those people are all buried here,” volunteer caretaker Keith Titus said.

Several grants went to church-affiliated properties, a longstanding county practice that was suspended after a unanimous 2018 state Supreme Court decision deemed it a violation of the New Jersey Constitution. The practice resumed last year after two North Jersey churches won a preliminary injunction against barring them from historic preservation grants, in a lawsuit that tested the bounds of the separation of church and state mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

This year’s awards include $330,000 for acquisition and restoration of the circa-1835 First Presbyterian Church of Hanover and its burial ground. The East Hanover property represents one of the earliest centers of settlement in Morris County and is directly associated with the American Revolution. The property was purchased by East Hanover in August 2025.

Among the smaller grants was $18,560 for preservation of what is known as the “New Jersey Merci Train boxcar,” a rare surviving example of a late 19th-century French military railcar, designed to transport 40 soldiers or eight horses. It is one of 49 railcars distributed throughout the United States in 1949 as part of a post-World War II diplomatic gesture from France.

The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey, which applied for the grant, requires steel bracing and other preservation work. The grant will also support the completion of construction documents for interior and exterior preservation efforts.

The full list of this year’s grant awards can be viewed online.

Five-and-dime fortune

A philanthropic family foundation established in 1931 to uphold the legacy of Fred Morgan Kirby, a pioneer in the five-and-dime store industry, the Kirby Foundation grants support “organizations and programs that advance positive, sustainable change.” This year, recipients include the local news website Morristown Green ($10,000) and a nonprofit group operating weekly newspapers in the Morris County area ($25,000).

The foundation “has long held that an informed citizenry is the foundation of civic life, and that access to trusted, local information is what makes self-governance possible,” the group stated in announcing the expansion of its Public Affairs & Society Benefit portfolio.

Another $10,000 was awarded to North Country Public Radio, which serves listeners across upstate New York and Vermont “in general operating support to sustain the kind of regional public journalism that keeps rural communities connected to the issues that shape their lives.”

This year, the Kirby Foundation also chose to support organizations sponsoring semiquincentennial events in their communities. The local America250 initiatives included the Morris County Historical Society for its African American History Survey, “a project to document and illuminate local stories that have too often been left out of the American narrative.”

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey also received $175,000 for operating expenses and support of “Revolutionary Voices,” a four-part play reading series that traces American ideals from the founding era to the present. Those readings take place at the F. M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre on the campus of Drew University in Madison.

The Kirby grant announcement did not include a full list of recipients and amounts. But “in the first half of 2026, the Foundation approved approximately $530,000 in grants to 12 public affairs organizations spanning public media, academic freedom, civil discourse, and civic thought leadership,” it stated.

Morris County recipients included the Morristown-based Seeing Eye ($170,000), the Mayo Performing Arts Center ($100,000) and $35,000 for the Growing Stage in Netcong, New Jersey’s only resident professional theater company dedicated to children’s theater. It operates out of the historic Palace Theatre, a former vaudeville house on the shores of Lake Musconetcong.

Community support initiatives such as the United Way of Morris County ($165,000) and Market Street Mission ($45,000) were also on the Kirby list of more than 100 awardees.