Edward Kaminski, 80, computer programming manager
Edward J. Kaminski was a dinner-plate fisherman, comfortable seeking out blues and flounders for his kitchen from his 18-foot motorboat.
Edward J. Kaminski was a dinner-plate fisherman, comfortable seeking out blues and flounders for his kitchen from his 18-foot motorboat.
Closer to land than to the ocean deep.
But in the 1990s, he and a few older men ventured forth, joining a younger sailboat crew.
"The young guys sailed to Bermuda, and raced in a regatta there," but they had to fly back to their jobs, his wife, Helen, said.
"So it was the old guys who brought the boats back," with all the heavy lifting that the effort demanded.
It was his only time on the ocean deep.
On Wednesday, Feb. 24, Mr. Kaminski, 80, of Brigantine, a former computer programming manager, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease at Seacrest Village, an assisted-living community in Little Egg Harbor.
Born in Camden, Mr. Kaminski graduated from Camden Catholic High School in 1954 and studied accounting at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Md.
At his first job - from the late 1950s into the early 1960s - he was fortunate to be working for Bell Telephone of New Jersey, his wife said.
He had started in the accounting department, she said, but "he really fell into" his career in computer work, because Bell Telephone "had just started with IBM equipment."
"He was very interested in it. He was very mechanical."
Mr. Kaminski then worked for the former Uniform Tubes Inc. near Collegeville, Montgomery County, from the 1960s into the 1970s, as a manager for its computer programming.
As a programming manager, she said, he worked from the 1970s into the 1980s for the former Langston Corp., a Cherry Hill manufacturer of equipment that produced corrugated board.
After working at the same job for the former Plymouth Paper Co. in Bellmawr, he returned to Langston in the 1990s, retiring in 1999 as a systems analyst.
Mr. Kaminski was a former member of the Brigantine Elks Lodge and of the Brigantine Yacht Club, which he joined in 1983.
David Barry, two years behind him at Camden Catholic, knew him as a fishing partner in Mr. Kaminski's motorboat.
"Many times we were fishing together in the Delaware Bay and in the ocean," Barry said.
"He really did know" where the fish hung out, with the boat always within sight of land.
Their catches, he said, were dinner-size, "mostly blues, five to ten pounds."
Besides his wife, Mr. Kaminski is survived by daughters Lisa Simmons, JoEllen Carpino, and Kathleen Hoff; a sister; and seven grandchildren.
Viewings were set from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, and from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 29, both at the Healey Funeral Home, Nine White Horse Pike, Haddon Heights, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass at St. Rose of Lima Church, 300 Kings Hwy., Haddon Heights. Burial is to be private.
Donations may be sent to the Alzheimers' Association, Suite 310, Three Eves Drive, Marlton, N.J. 08053.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.healeyfuneralhomes.com.
610-313-8134@WNaedele