Eugene Urbanczyk

Eugene (Gene) Urbanczyk, 78, of Prince's Bay, a retired security guard who was very active in his church and loved traveling the world, died Tuesday in Staten Island University Hospital, Prince's Bay.

The lifelong Staten Islander was born in Elm Park and moved with family to Tottenville when he was about 3 years old. He settled in Prince's Bay in 1975.

A graduate of Tottenville High School, Mr. Urbanczyk earned an associate's degree in agriculture from Long Island Agricultural and Technical Institute in Farmingdale, now Farmingdale State College-SUNY.

He worked as a security guard for the former Nassau Smelting and Refining Co. in Richmond Valley for many years.

Mr. Urbanczyk had many interests, including gardening. Gifted and skilled, he grew beautiful flowers and great quantities of vegetables in his garden, and shared the bounty with neighbors and the priests at his church. In 1997, he was awarded a certificate of appreciation for his garden from the Lynne Robbins Steinman Foundation.

He also was a sports enthusiast and a former assistant coach in the 1960s for the S & L Plainsmen, a champion sandlot Island football team.

Mr. Urbanczyk was a member of the Staten Island Outdoorsmen, and was an avid hunter and fisherman.

He also was a globetrotter and loved to travel, taking many cruises and land tours. He journeyed to New Zealand and Australia, many times to Europe, to Iceland, Scandinavia, Turkey, China and other countries, as well as to many of the U.S. states, including Hawaii.

Everybody loved him, said his sister, Adele O'Hara. He was a kidder and a jokester, and had a great sense of humor. He got along with everyone. He was a kidder and a jokester. And he was a loving uncle, fond of his nieces and nephews.

Much of Mr. Urbanczyk's time and energy was devoted to St. Thomas the Apostle R.C. Church in Pleasant Plains, where he was an usher for the Saturday evening mass, co-chairman of the 300 Club and very involved in many projects and activities.

His wife, the former Elizabeth Millward, died in 1988.

Surviving, along with his sister, Adele, are 12 grandchildren.

The funeral will be Friday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville, with a mass at 11:30 a.m. in St. Thomas the Apostle Church. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.

Services: St. Thomas the Apostle RC Church Friday, February 20, 2015 11:30AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Wednesday, February 18, 2015 7-9PM & Thursday, February 19, 2015 2-4 & 7-9PM

Cemetery: Resurrection Cemetery (Staten Island)

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: St. Thomas The Apostle RC Church