Daniel Martin Dzenkowski
Daniel Martin Dzenkowski of East Marion passed away peacefully at his home May 12 with his family by his side. He was 85.
He was born Aug. 5, 1927, at the East Marion home of his parents, Andrew and Apolonia Dzenkowski. After graduating from Greenport High School in 1944, he enlisted in the Navy and was trained in the Marshall Islands for the invasion of Japan. Assigned to the USS Knox APA-46, he was stationed at the Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, with the occupation force.
Upon returning home, he was a farmer on his family’s potato farm. He obtained a private pilot’s license and bought an airplane, which he kept at the farm. He married Mary Ann Frost in 1950.
He left farming in the early 1960s and became a commercial trap fisherman, fishing for almost 43 years in the waters off Orient Point and on Gardiners Bay as captain of the “DAN DEE.” He assisted New York State Department of Environmental Conservation biologists with numerous striped bass and fluke research projects. After retiring from fishing, he returned to farming. Sep’s farm stand in East Marion became his second home and family.
In the community, Mr. Dzenkowski was an active 66-year member of the East Marion Fire Department, holding the positions of both chief and commissioner. An active member of the North Fork Volunteer Firemen’s Association, he served as a parade and race judge. He was also one of the original organizers of the Long Island Fisherman’s Association and served on the board of directors, making numerous trips to Albany to support commercial fishing legislation. He also belonged to the Southold Town Baymen’s Association. He worked almost every day of his life, although his family was able to get him to take an occasional vacation.
Mr. Dzenkowski is survived by his devoted wife, Mary Ann; his children: Denise Reed (Dick) of Woodinville, Wash., Daniel (Karen) of State College, Pa., Donald (Peggylee “Pudge”) of East Marion, Diane Goleb (Paul) of Gaithersburg, Md., and Donna McMullen (Michael) of Leesburg, Va.; his sisters Alice Surozenski and Jeanne Willumsen and his brother George; 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers Andrew and Joseph and sisters Julia, Natalie and Marcella.
A firematic service will take place on Tuesday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. at Horton-Mathie Funeral Home and a funeral Mass will be held at St. Agnes R.C. Church, both in Greenport. Interment will follow at the veterans’ section of the East Marion Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to either East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978-7048 or the East Marion Fire Department Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 162, East Marion, NY 11939.
This is a paid notice.
