John L Rhatigan

John L. Rhatigan, 85, of Rosebank, a retired contractor and businessman, Korean War veteran and family man, died Monday in Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, Dongan Hills, where he had been a rehab patient for a brief period.

The lifelong Staten Islander was born in Grasmere. He and his family moved into the home he built in Rosebank in 1963.

After graduating from St. Peter's Boys High School, he attended college for a year, but then decided he wanted to be a carpenter. He owned and operated John Rhatigan Contractor until retiring in 2010.

Mr. Rhatigan served in the U.S. Marine Corps and saw duty in the Korean War, participating in the brutal battle in freezing weather at the Chosin Reservoir in 1950. He was a member of the Marine Corps League, Sunnyside.

He first saw Lee Marenco at a basketball game, and told the friend with him, "I'm going to marry her." He met her again at the beach in 1947, but their budding romance was interrupted by his military service. They wed in 1953 in St. Teresa's R.C. Church in Castleton Corners, and were inseparable.

He had an impressive green thumb and gardened for 25 years, happily sharing the bounty from his big vegetable garden with friends and neighbors. When he was 68 years old he began running, and was really good at it, family said. He ran in the Advance's 2004 Memorial Day Race, among other races, and always held his own and better.

Mr. Rhatigan was a voracious reader and a history buff, a passion he shared with his grandchildren. Intelligent and curious, he was a constant learner, and studied Italian when he was in his 70s.

"He was just a lovely, sweet man," said his daughter, Nancy Rhatigan Dunn. "He was gentle and kind, and never yelled or raised his voice. He didn't have an enemy in the world and he never said a bad word about anyone. We were blessed to have him for so long."

Mr. Rhatigan was a parishioner of St. Mary's R.C. Church, Rosebank.

Surviving, along with Lee, his wife of 62 years, and his daughter, Nancy, are his son, John; his daughter, Lauren Rhatigan; his brother, Ray; his sister, Betty Dolen, and six grandchildren.

The funeral will be Thursday from the Casey Funeral Home, Castleton Corners, with a Mass at 10:30 a.m. in St. Sylvester's R.C. Church, Concord. Arrangements include cremation.