Elmer M. Petercsak

Elmer Petercsak, age 92, passed away peacefully at home on March 3, 2023 surrounded by his daughters.

Born from very humble beginnings to Hungarian immigrants Mary Maczko and Steve Petercsak, Elmer was the youngest of seven children. Growing up in the Hungarian community, his family would often say, "we all were so poor we didn't know how poor we were", but Elmer seized every opportunity in life and rose to be a well-respected man to everyone who knew him.

Elmer graduated from Metuchen High School in 1948 and worked at various jobs to help support his family. In 1949, he began work at Nixon Nitrate and was mentored by Richard Winters of the Band of Brothers fame. Mr. Winters saw the potential in Elmer and urged him to pursue a college education in Engineering. He opted to first serve his country during the Korean War from 1952-1954 and was honorably discharged as an Army Corporal. Inspired by Mr. Winters, he attended Rutgers College from 1954-1957 but the collegiate life was not for him, and he began working at Metuchen Motors, where he met his future wife, Nancy.

In 1957 he began working for Western Electric as an Engineer until he sought federal government work as a DoD Engineer. He began his employment at Ft. Monmouth, NJ in 1964 as an Electronics Engineer until his retirement in April 1997. As a civilian, he worked on many new systems to support our military and was highly commended for his many contributions and achievements. Elmer was a communicant of St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Deal, NJ where he also served as an usher on numerous occasions.

Elmer enjoyed softball and played for various Ft. Monmouth teams during his career and his love of the game continued well after his retirement. He was passionate about using his electrical skills to craft various electronic equipment as well as building model airplanes. One of Elmer's favorite pastimes was heading down to Atlantic City, where he had his fair share of luck at the slot machines. He was also a cat lover and was so thankful that he had his "best friend", Winnie, always by his side, even at the end.

He was predeceased in 2019 by his loving wife of 61 years, Nancy Petercsak (nee Schmidt), two infant daughters, Barbara and Lori, and siblings, Jolynn, Julius, Steve, William, Zoltan, and Otto.

He is survived by his daughters, Susan Skidmore and her husband Vance, of Ocean, NJ, and Cheryl McCall, of Newark, DE; sister-in-laws Elizabeth Petercsak of Murfreesboro, TN, and at the time of his passing, the late Barbara Petercsak of Brick, NJ, both who were truly sisters to him. Elmer also leaves behind numerous nieces, nephews, their children, and many longtime friends.

Elmer will always be remembered by those closest to him as a humble, gentle, and generous man, with great integrity and the most compassionate heart. He was truly one of a kind and will be missed by everyone who knew him.

Funeral services were private.