Beloved Union County School Employee Found Dead

RAHWAY – A beloved Union County school employee was found dead this weekend after a search that lasted nearly a month.

Brian Gooney, 55, a paraprofessional in the Linden Public Schools who assisted with special education students, was found on Saturday after he had been missing since March 9th.

Gooney was found after Rahway Police Officers responded to the Rahway River near Essex Street to investigate a body discovered on the river banks, according to police.

An autopsy to determine the cause of death will be conducted by the Union County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Since he was last seen leaving his Main Street apartment at approximately 9 p.m. on March 9th, officers from the Rahway Police Department and the Union County Police Department conducted several extensive searches of the Rahway River, its banks and the surrounding areas, police said.

Gooney had moved to a 5-year-old apartment complex — one of Rahway's newly developed complexes along the Rahway River — in January and was excited about it, a relative told NJ Advance Media

Last month, the Linden Public School District held a rally to bring awareness to the situation and ask anyone who's seen Gooney to contact police.

More than 100 members of the school community attended the rally.

“The Linden family is strong,” Superintendent Dr. Marnie Hazelton told the crowd on Friday. “We want the whole TriState Area to know that he is part of the Linden family. Thanks for coming out to show your love and support for Brian.”

Eloy Delgado, president of the Linden Education Association, said, “We want to do everything in our power to spread the word so that someone, anyone who has seen anything or has any information will come forward."

He added, "Brian is a beloved member of our school community who is adored by colleagues, students, and yes, family. Help us find our colleague Brian and bring him home to his family and his community.”

Before joining the staff at Soehl Middle School two years ago, Gooney had been a paraprofessional at School No. 2 and before that was a substitute teacher. Before that, he was a career journalist in New Jersey.

Gooney's sister Bernadette and brother Patrick spoke briefly at the rally to say thank you to those who gathered and to the Rahway and Linden police departments for continuing to search for Gooney.

“We want to thank everyone for pitching in to help us,” said Karen Gooney, Brian’s sister-in-law, who is a secretary at Linden’s School No. 1. “And to my Linden Public Schools family, I can’t thank you enough. I am so proud to work for Linden Public Schools. And so is Brian.”

The Linden public schools went remote three days after Gooney's disappearance due to covid cases, after having started hybrid learning just a month ago. Gooney had good-naturedly Tweeted about hybrid learning last month, making references to comic books, one of his interests.

"Lots of prayers," commented a friend on Facebook. "He loves his job and those kids."

Anyone with information should contact Detective Tilton at 732-827-2146, or the Rahway Police Department TIPS Line at 732-388-1553.

Caren Lissner contributed to this story