John Pirando

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- John P. Pirando, 90, a retired chemist and loving family man, died yesterday in Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, in Castleton Corners.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he graduated from Textile High School in Manhattan and earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the former Brooklyn Polytech Institute. He moved to Dyer, Ind., in the early 1970s and relocated to Alabama in the mid-1990s. He settled in Tottenville five years ago.

Mr. Pirando served in the U.S. Army during World War II, stationed stateside in California and Alabama. He attained the rank of staff sergeant.

He had a 30-year career as a chemist in the technical sales department of American Maize in Indiana. He retired in the early 1990s.

Mr. Pirando enjoyed solving crossword puzzles.

His wife of 60 years, the former Eileen McCauley, died in 2007.

Surviving are his sons, Peter and Robert; his daughters, Eileen Collins and Nancy Watts; two sisters, Geraldine Matise and Evelyn Matise; eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be Monday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, with a mass at 10 a.m. in Our Lady Help of Christians R.C. Church, both Tottenville. Cremation will be handled by Rosehill Cemetery, Linden, N.J.

Services: Our Lady Help of Christian's RC Church Monday, May 7,2012 10:00AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Sunday, May 6,2012 2-4 & 7-9PM

Cemetery: Rosehill Crematory

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Our Lady Help of Christians R.C.Church