Obituary of John C. Herman

John C. Herman of Cape Coral, Florida died on Saturday Dec 20, 2014. He was 88 years of age. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass at St. Roch's Church 602 Port Richmond Ave, Staten Island on Monday, Dec 29th at 11:00 AM. Interment Ocean View Cemetery, Staten Island. Visitation will be held at The Jacob A. Holle Funeral Home 2122 Millburn Ave, Maplewood, NJ on Sunday 2:00 – 5:00 PM. He leaves his wife Gloria (Donnelly) to whom he was married for 62 years; four children Nancy E. Friedland, Jane M., John D. and Daniel M. plus four granddaughters Victoria and Sarah Collins and Julia and Alison Herman. He was born in Port Richmond and graduated from Blessed Sacrament School, St. Peter's High School and the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1947. He sailed with several American steamship companies for five years and was a USCG licensed second mate, unlimited for all oceans and seas. His shoreside business career was in the marine insurance industry in lower Manhattan, where he was a manager at the American Institute of Marine Underwriters and a Vice President at the Inland Marine Underwriters Association. He was also an officer and commissioner of the NY State Board of Commissioners for Licensing Seamen Hotels in the City of New York and was also a director and officer of The Steamship Historical Society of America for many years and was a member of the Council of American Master Mariners. While on Staten Island he was parishioner of St. Roch's Church where he was baptized and married and then Saint Ann's Church where he was a lector and president of its Fathers Club. In his youth his summers were spent at Graham Beach where his grandfather (Alderman and Parks Commissioner John J. O'Rourke) had a bungalow for many years. In 1971 he moved to Maplewood, NJ where he resided for 20 years. There he was a communicant of Our Lady of Sorrows Church, South Orange, NJ and served as an Eucharist Minister and president of its Holy Name Society. Upon retirement he moved to Cape Coral where he lived for 22 years and was active in his parish, St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Church in several activities among which were as a lector and Eucharist Minister, and volunteered for several years in the Meals on Wheels program.