Robert Cooper

Former Rosebank resident Robert E. Cooper, 84, a Korean War veteran, retired city Sanitation worker and family man, died Thursday in Brandywine Senior Living at Howell, N.J., where he had resided for three months.

Born in Brooklyn, he moved with family to Mariners Harbor as a teenager and attended McKee High School.

Mr. Cooper served as a corporal in the U.S. Army, and saw duty in the Korean War.

He and Joan SanNicola were introduced by a family friend. It was love at first sight and he never stopped adoring her, family said. After they wed in 1966, the couple lived in West Brighton before moving to Rosebank. They also lived in the Poconos in Pennsylvania before relocating to Brick, N.J.

Mr. Cooper worked for the city Department of Sanitation for many years, until retiring in 1989. He then worked for a time in the cafeteria of St. John's University, Grymes Hill.

A gifted artist, he enjoyed painting. He was fond of playing bocce, as well as bowling and archery, and had played softball in a league before he retired. And he loved his dogs, family said.

Mr. Cooper was easygoing, gregarious and fun to be with.

He was just a great guy. He was very spiritual and loving, and he lifted people's spirits by making them laugh, always making them feel better, said his daughter, Elena Catalano.

While living on the Island, he was a parishioner of St. Joseph's R.C. Church, Rosebank. In Brick, he was a parishioner of Visitation R.C. Church and served as an usher.

Joan, his wife of 40 years, died in 2006.

Surviving, along with his daughter, Elena, are his sons, Al and Robert; his daughter, Grace Lupo; 10 grandchildren, and two great-grandsons.

The funeral will be Monday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville, with a Mass at 10 a.m. in Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church, Huguenot. Burial will follow in St. Peter's Cemetery, West Brighton.

Services: Monday, December 28,2015 Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 A.M Our Lady Star Of The Sea.

Visitation: Sunday December 27, 2015 2-4 & 7-9pm

Cemetery: St. Peter's Cemetery

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C.Church