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Edward Babkiewich died after a short illness at the East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care on November 27, 2017. He was 93.
“Pop” to his family, Mr. Babkiewich was born in the family farm house in Speonk to John and Mary Babkiewich, the youngest of six first-generation, Polish Americans.
Mr. Babkiewich was a lifelong resident of Remsenburg-Speonk and graduated from Eastport High School in 1943. Soon after, he enlisted in the Navy, serving during World War II, following his four brothers into the military with all five boys serving at once. He served in the Navy as a Seabee in the South Pacific. After the war, he worked with brothers Stan and Joe in a laundry business in Florida.
In Speonk, Mr. Babkiewich was the proprietor of the E & B Market, a fixture in the Polish community, at the corner of South Phillips Avenue and Montauk Highway. He later ran an employment agency, was a store manager for Hills Food Markets, and finished his working years as the cash expeditor at Jones Beach Catering Corporation.
Mr. Babkiewich wintered in Florida for 30 years, cultivating a circle of close friends. Family members said he loved the ocean and all things related—clamming, fishing and swimming. He traveled widely in his retirement visiting ports of call from Alaska to Hawaii, Mexico to New Zealand, and his Polish roots in Eastern Europe. Despite miles that separated them, he was close to family in California, Colorado, and Florida.
Even at 93, he was an avid reader, keeping up with the day-to-day news, taking large-print books from the library, and embracing the e-reader that his grandchildren gave to him.
He was predeceased by his wife, Elizabeth “Betty” Nidzyn; his brothers, Stan, Charlie, Joe and Frank; and sister, Josephine Dobrian. He is survived by his daughter, Nancy and husband William Baker, and their three children, Eric and wife Kirsten, Alexa and Lauren; a great-grandchild and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Werner Rothwell Funeral Home in Westhampton Beach. A funeral Mass was held at the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Quiogue.
Memorial donations may be made to East End Hospice.
on Dec 8, 2017