STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- John Zerbini, 76, of Huguenot, a retired city Transit Police officer who is remembered for his joyful spirit, died Sunday in Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Castleton Corners.
Born in Lucca, Italy, he was a child when he immigrated with family to the United States in 1939, moving to Brooklyn. He settled in Huguenot in 2006.
Mr. Zerbini graduated from the former Eastern District High School in Brooklyn and attended Pace University, Manhattan.
He served in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Jackson, N.C., for six months, and served five years in the Reserves.
Mr. Zerbini was a city Transit Police officer, retiring from Brooklyn's 34th District in 1985. He later was head of security at 75 Park Place, in Manhattan's financial district, and retired from that position in 2003.
Always wearing a smile, Mr. Zerbini made people feel good when they were in his presence, his family said. “He loved people,’’ said his wife, Sheila Zerbini. “He had a wonderful personality. He was fun. He always had a joke.’’
He was a parishioner of Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church, Huguenot.
Surviving, in addition to Sheila, his wife of 53 years, are his son, Michael; his daughter, Angela Venezia, and two grandchildren.
The funeral will be Wednesday from the Virginia Funeral Chapel, Dongan Hills, with a mass at 11:30 a.m. in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church. Burial will follow in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
Arrangements under the direction of Virginia Funeral Chapel, Staten Island, NY.
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