John F. Brand

John F. Brand, 75, a lifelong resident of East Atlantic Beach, NY passed away on October 22nd, 2025 in his hundred year old home.
John was born October 2, 1950 in Far Rockaway, NY. He is the son of the late Frederick and the late Eileen (Coyle) Brand. He was raised in a loving, dedicated family where he was the fourth child in line and it was always: the late Eileen (Katz), Fred, Kathryn (Naglieri), John and Dianne (Brand) where he spent every day in the summer at the best place in the
world- the beach. John always said that he peaked at the age of 10, playing his favorite sport baseball on the street with his friends.
He had a diverse work history ranging from a soda jerk, pharmacy delivery man to his career as a switchman and shop steward for CWA 1101 Union Bell Atlantic/NYNEX Install crew responsible for putting in the pay phones at the World Trade Center and other locations all over NYC to a local taxi driver and dispatcher for the cab companies in Long Beach, NY.
On January 18, 1979, he married Margaret (Wilkinson) Brand from Woodside, Queens, NY. Their loving marriage lasted 46 years. From this marriage came his three children Eileen (Hedley), Andrea (Brand) and Johnny, with the wonderful additions of his son-in-laws Kristopher Hedley and Mark Tweedie and his two grandchildren John (Jack) and Nora Rose Hedley.
Anyone who knew John knew what a loyal, kind, hilarious, witty son, brother, friend, husband, grandfather, uncle, great uncle and neighbor that he was. His children grew up in a home that was the party and always full of music, history, crossword puzzles, sports facts and a lot of laughter and love. He had a legendary record collection where he loved to play at full volume with all of the windows open and he created his famous themed mix tapes and later CD's.
Later in life, in addition to spending time with his family, John enjoyed hanging out on the beach with his sisters, playing golf with his brother, doing zoom meetings and emailing about baseball with his friends and sending out the weekly NY Times Spelling Bee puzzle to a close, and always a growing, group of family and friends.
In lieu of services, the family will have a party on the beach in the Spring 2026 to honor his love of the beach and align to a favorite Beach Boys quote "Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world... "