John Jerome Skinner Sr.

John Jerome Skinner, Sr., known to family and friends as "Jerry" and a former resident of Todt Hill, Staten Island, passed away on March 21, 2025, at the Encompass Rehabilitation Center in Port St. Lucie, Florida at 84 years old from complications arising after knee replacement surgery.

Jerry was born on May 11, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, moved to Staten Island at 4 years old and resided on Howard Avenue on Grymes Hill with his father Dr. Homer Lucas Skinner (1901-1985) and mother Nina Osborn Skinner (1904-1981). Dr. Skinner was the Chief of Surgery at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital and later at Staten Island Hospital. Nina was active with the Society of Seaman's Children and the Medical Doctor's Wives' Association.

Jerry will be remembered and deeply missed by not only his wife Rosalie Margaret (nee) Charles, his 3 sons and daughters-in-law, John Jerome, Jr., Esq. (Adela), Dr. Gregory Charles (Mikayla), and Col. (Ret.) Brent Osborn (Tanya), his 6 grandchildren, Gabriela, Cassandra, John, Matthew, Sebastian, and London, but also his brother Donald, many nieces and nephews, and an incredible network of friends.

The youngest of 5 children, he is predeceased by Dr. Homer Jr., Betty (nee) Troutman, Dr. Robert., and granddaughter Angela.

He met Rosalie in 1961, while summering at Lake Hopatcong, N.J., before her senior year of nursing at Saint Peter's School of Nursing in New Brunswick, N.J.. After her graduation and while she worked at the Cornell Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, they were married on July 18, 1964, at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Milltown, N.J., with Father Damien Myett presiding, and thereafter honeymooned for 3 weeks in Europe, touring in France (Paris and the French Riviera), Switzerland, and Austria. Upon returning they lived in a split-level home on Grymes Hill for two years, moved to Richmondtown in 1967, buying a house on Center Street, and thereafter moved in 1972 to a house on St. James Place on Todt Hill, where they resided for 30 years.

On Staten Island he attended kindergarten at Saint Dorothy's school in Rose Bank, grade school at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Tompkinsville, attended St. Peter's High School in Randall Manor for three years, where he played basketball (a point guard of the 1959 S.I. Championship team) and ran track, before graduating from Curtis high school in St. George in 1960. For college he initially attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, but then transferred to Drew University's College of Business in Madison, N.J., whereupon, after obtaining his associate's degree and only at the age of 22, opened a retail liquor store in Port Richmond in 1962. He moved the store a few years later to the Richmond Shopping Center in Richmondtown, the first to ever do so, and named the business Skinner Richmond Liquors. For 36 years he ran a successful business, specializing in premium wines, winning many awards in wine and liquor presentation contests, and hosting many tastings at his home and at West Point, eventually selling in 1998.

Afterwards, and now retired, he and his wife Rosalie moved to Fairways at Forsgate in Monroe, N.J. in late 2001 and from there to Port St. Lucie, Florida in 2016.

All three of his sons attended Staten Island Academy for grade school and then Monsignor Farrell for high school. John Jr. and Brent are graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, while Gregory attended the Virginia Military Institute. John Jr. is a registered USPTO patent & trademark attorney who graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and Gregory is a dentist who graduated from the New York University School of Dentistry and now practices in Medford. Brent is a retired 25-year military officer who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia.

Jerry was an avid tennis player, where as a member of the Richmond County Country Club for many, many years he won numerous Club men's singles, doubles & mixed doubles championships, won the U.S. Open Mixed Doubles Championship with his wife Rosalie in 1980 and the Staten Island Men's Doubles Championship with his eldest son John Jr. in 1981.

Jerry was also an avid golfer with a handicap of 18 and he proudly shot a hole-in-one on November 10th, 2004, with his father's 5-wood club at the 180-yard Banks Hole #7 at the Forsgate Country Club golf course. As a golfer at Forsgate, Jerry won the Senior Couples Club Championship with his wife Rosalie in 2005.

Jerry also enjoyed playing Bridge.

Relatives and friends are invited to celebrate Jerry’s life at a Funeral Mass on Saturday, May 10, at 10:00 a.m., presided over by Father Victor Ulto, at St. Bernadette’s Roman Catholic Church, 350 N.W. California Blvd., Port St. Lucie, Florida, with a Celebration of Life luncheon to follow at the nearby St. Lucie Trail Golf Club, 951 S.W. Country Club Drive, Port St. Lucie, Florida.

For those who wish to make a contribution in Jerry’s memory, please consider a gift to St. Bernadette’s Roman Catholic Church.