Mark Wade Zabel

Mark Wade Zabel passed away peacefully with family by his side on June 21, 2026 after a seven year battle with cancer. He was 73 years old.

Mark was born November 6, 1952 in San Francisco, CA. He spent his first five years in California, and then his family moved to Germantown, PA for a year before moving to Westmont, NJ. He spent the next 12 years there in Catholic schools, graduating from Paul VI High School in 1970, and then moving on to Rutgers University in New Brunswick. After college, Mark moved back to California where he began his career in electronics at PTI Controls and later, A-Z Electronics, both in Anaheim. While in CA, Mark started a family, & his daughter Sarah was born.

He stayed in California for three more years, and then moved back to New Jersey where he met and married his wife of 35 years, Barbara (Cettei). After two years in Oaklyn, they moved to Mount Laurel and made that their home for the rest of their entire marriage. Back on the East Coast, Mark continued his career in electronics at Pioneer Electronics in Horsham, PA, before moving to Avnet in New Jersey, where he began there in sales and quickly moved on to management, and eventually became a Director, retiring in 2012.

Mark had many interests, but his three greatest loves (besides his family) were sports, movies and photography. He could, and often did, speak about sports & movies in great detail. He could tell you players on teams from back in the 50’s & 60’s, which team won and what the score was from many games, and he knew his favorite movie’s directors, writers, actors, composers - pretty much anything you might want to know about a movie - and could relay the entire plot to anyone that had an interest - all of which was very helpful when a crossword puzzle or Trivial Pursuit game question required a sports or entertainment answer. And, when it came to photography, he had a great eye for capturing a scene in a photo.

Besides sports, movies and photography, Mark had many interests. He was a veracious reader, he loved many types of music, and would often act as DJ at home. Perhaps his greatest attribute, and what he’ll surely be remembered for, was Mark’s great sense of humor. He could make anyone laugh, and often did. Mark was predeceased by both of his parents, Zane and Connie (Capaldo) Zabel. Mark is going to be missed by so many people, his loving wife, Barbara, his daughter, Sarah and grandchildren Emma and Dallas his brothers, Matt (Megan) and Paul (Susan) and so many other family members and many, many friends

Relatives and friends are invited to his viewing and funeral on Saturday morning June 27th, from 10:00AM to 11:00AM at the BOCCO FUNERAL HOME, 1300 North Kings Hwy, Cherry Hill, NJ, 08034. Funeral services will be celebrated 11:00AM in the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers contributions in Mark’s memory to: BreakthroughT1D (formerly JDRF) PO Box 5044, Hagerstown, MD, 21741-5044 (https://www.breakthrought1d.org/) or ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research 501 St Jude Place, Memphis, TN. 38105 (www.stjude.org)