Deacon Anthony J. Hancock

1935 - 2019

Deacon Anthony J. Hancock

Somerset - Deacon Anthony John "Tony" Hancock, 83, of Somerset, NJ, passed May 1, 2019.

Tony was a husband, a father, a grandfather, an athlete, a teacher, a scientist, and an ordained Deacon in the Catholic Church.

Tony was born to Jack Hancock and Iris Marjorie Hancock (Brant), May 7, 1935, in Smethwick, England. He graduated with an undergraduate degree from Nottingham University in Nottingham, England and emigrated to Canada to pursue a PhD in chemistry at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada. He married Judith Anne Hancock (Drumm) in 1975, and they spent the next 44 years together, living in Cleveland, Ohio, Kansas City, Kansas, Bridgewater and Somerset, NJ. Together they raised their daughter Rebecca Anne Pierce (Hancock), the highlight of their lives.

As a young man, Tony played semi-professional soccer in England and continued playing soccer in Canada through graduate school. His competitive streak and love of sports remained a driving force through his entire life. In his later years, Tony and Judy took cycling trips across Europe and spent many weekend afternoons cycling across New Jersey.

Upon earning his doctorate, Anthony emigrated to the United States in 1972, where he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. There, he met his beloved wife Judy, who was pursuing her graduate studies at the time. Tony pursued a long and varied career as a scientist, serving as a professor at the University of Missouri- Kansas City Medical School where he taught biochemistry, and serving in senior roles at companies that would eventually become Sanofi, located in Bridgewater, NJ.

Tony gave his passions for sports and for science to his daughter Rebecca. Throughout her life, he served as her teacher, her coach, her constant advisor, and a huge fan. When Rebecca earned her own doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in 2017, Tony beamed from the audience, secure that his legacy as a scientist and a researcher had been passed to the next generation of his family. Over the last few years, Tony and Judy relished the chance to visit Rebecca and her family in Portland, Oregon, where they would chase their grandson Bennett, go on long walks, and admire the famous Portland roses.

Prior to his retirement in 2005, Tony began the DiaconateFormation Program and was ordained a Permanent Deacon in the Catholic Church on September 9, 2007, serving the Diocese of Metuchen. Tony was a beloved Deacon at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Somerville, NJ from 2007 until his death, where he loved not only his liturgical duties but also his ministry to the sick and homebound. He often reflected that when ministering to the sick and the homebound, he received far more than he gave.

He leaves as his legacy his beloved daughter Rebecca, his devoted wife Judy, his son-in-law Michael Pierce, and his grandson Bennett George Pierce. He is also survived by brothers- and sisters-in law Ronald and Carole Rubley, George and Sharon Drumm, David Drumm, and Jim Fennessey, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by Jack Hancock, his father, Iris Marjorie Hancock, his mother, his mother-in-law and father-in-law, Evelyn and George Drumm, as well as Mary Fennessey, his sister-in-law.

Visiting hours will take place at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, in Somerville, NJ on Friday, May 3rd from 4-8 pm. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, May 4th at 1:30 pm also at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Somerville, NJ. Mausoleum Entombment to follow at St. Bernard Mausoleum Route 28 Bridgewater, NJ. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Somerville, NJ.