Nicholas Rutkowski

August 16, 2015

Nicholas Rutkowski, 93, formerly of Glenmont, NY, passed away peacefully Sunday, August 16, 2015 of natural causes in the company of his family. Nick was born in 1922 to the late Tekla and Peter Rutkowski in Hastings-On-Hudson, NY. He excelled in his studies and sports during his high school career, with citations in pole vaulting and basketball. He won medals for swimming, running and canoeing while competing at the Yonkers Yacht Club, Yonkers, NY. He spent his summers with his brothers, Paul and Mike, and his yet-to-be best man, Mike Russak, building boats, swimming the full width of the Hudson River for sport, and sailing their beloved Sea Scout along the Palisades.

With the rapid approach of WWII, Nick graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY in 1942, and the U.S Maritime Service Officer's Training School at Fort Trumbull, New London, CT in 1945. He joined the U.S. Merchant Marine in 1942, and Seaman Rutkowski proudly served our nation aboard ship, conveying military troops and commercial cargo through hostile seas around the world during and after the war at enormous personal peril. Nick was an expert navigator using a gyroscope, a sextant, and features of the heavens, day and night. He achieved the officer's rank of First Mate.

Nick then attended the New York State Trooper Academy and joined the force in 1949. Malone was his first station, from which he patrolled the entire Adirondack region alone for several years. He served his final years with Troop G at the NYS Trooper Communications Headquarters in Albany, NY. Nick retired in 1977. Trooper Rutkowski's favorite call for help was to a Norwood farmhouse in 1951, where he fell hopelessly in love with a Merci Hospital Nursing School student. He gladly drove the 100 miles to Watertown to date his future wife, Doris. Nick married in 1953, settled in Glenmont, NY, attended St. Steven's Episcopal Church in Delmar, NY, with his family, and was a devoted husband and father for 56 years until Doris' death in 2009.

Nick passed his love of boating, music, sports and nature to his five children, all of whom survive: Phyllis, Jeff Rutkowski and his wife, Judith Dopp, Nan, Betsy, and Janet and her husband, John Facteau; five grandchildren, Melissa Markle Snitzer and her husband, Michael A. Snitzer, Jr., Aimee Markle, Laura Ferrari and her husband, Andrew Ferrari, Hannah Murcray and her husband, Trevor Murcray, and Benjamin Rutkowski and his fiance, Tiffany Liephart; three great-grandchildren, Sophia Ferrari, Caroline Snitzer, and Riley Murcray; and his loving nieces, nephews and cousins. He was predeceased by his grandson, Nicholas Tern Rutkowski; his son-in-law, Doug Nelson; and his brothers, Paul and Michael Rutkowski.

A service will be held at Saratoga National Cemetery on Friday, August 21, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. with Military Honors. A luncheon to follow immediately, to be announced. Arrangements are in care of Miller-Plonka Funeral Home, 30 Wolf St., Dolgeville, NY.

In lieu of flowers, donations in loving memory of Nick may be made to the NYS Troopers Signal 30 Benefit Fund, Wounded Warrior Project, Siegenthaler Hospice Center, or a charity of your choice.

To leave a message of sympathy for the Rutkowski family, please visit www.millerplonkafuneralhome.com and sign the guestbook.
Date of Death: August 16, 2015