Ad major dies after car crash

By Olivia Tattory

Thomas R. Galletta, 22, a senior advertising major and brother of the former Delta Psi chapter of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, from Old Bridge, N.J., died Aug. 28 from injuries sustained in a car accident two weeks earlier.

Galletta was crossing the intersection of Route 9 on Spring Valley Road when a 1999 Ford F350 truck hit the driver side of Galletta’s 2000 Acura at 5:14 p.m. on Aug. 14. He was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and spent the next two weeks medically sedated. Galletta died Tuesday because of complications resulting from the accident.
Friends and family described Galetta as an outgoing and caring person who would do anything for his loved ones and a role model for those who knew him.

Best friend, fraternity brother and roommate Mike Weinberg, a senior business administration major, recalled the first time he met Galletta in a macroeconomics class. Galletta’s curiosity sparked the conversation with Weinberg when he asked what the letters on Weinberg’s jersey meant.

“I told him they were Greek letters and invited him to a rush event,” said Weinberg. “Tommy was one of [PKT’s] inspirations.”

Galletta was a personal trainer and bouncer at Club 14 in Trenton and D’Jais in Belmar Beach. His brother, Danny, a sophomore at Monmouth University, said his brother was truly a people-person and one who could put a smile on anyone’s face.

“We’re brothers so we’d fight all the time,” said Danny. “But looking back on it now it’s all hysterical – we had a great time together.”
Rider is planning a campus-wide memorial service.
A full obituary will appear in our next issue on Sept. 21.