John A. Sokol

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Longtime Port Richmond resident John A. Sokol, 77, a retired city police detective who loved his family and had a passion for fishing, died Thursday in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.

Born in Jersey City, he grew up in Bayonne and graduated from Bayonne High School. He earned an associate's degree from the former Staten Island Community College.

Mr. Sokol served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and was honorably discharged in 1955.

He and Elizabeth Stibler were married in 1956 and settled in Port Richmond.

Mr. Sokol began his 26-year career with the NYPD as a police officer, and retired as a detective in 1992.

He loved fishing, and also enjoyed crabbing and barbecuing.

Surviving along with Elizabeth, his wife of 56 years, are his sons, John T. and Greg; his daughter, Nancy; three sisters, Irene Kostivich, Carol Breen and Maryann Canu, and three grandchildren.

The funeral service will be Monday at 10 a.m. in the Casey Funeral Home, Castleton Corners. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.