Edmund "Junior" Kolakowski

Kolakowski, Edmund "Junior"
BRANT LAKE - Edmund "Junior" Kolakowski, age 94, passed away at his home on Brant Lake on January 26, 2023, surrounded by loving family.
Ed was born in Bayonne, N.J. on January 21, 1929, the youngest son of the late Makary and Camilla Kolakowski. Ed was predeceased by his brothers, William (Jackie) Lapinski, Charlie (Hattie) Lapinski, and Edwin (Laurie) Kolakowski; and his sister, Hattie (Wesley) Perkowski.
After success playing basketball at Bayonne Junior College, he was invited to visit Siena College. Father Maurice Fitzgerald, the athletic director at Siena, offered him a scholarship which he accepted immediately. He enjoyed everything about Siena. Mostly he liked his teammates, classmates, fans, and everyone in the Capital area. He was one of the leading scorers on the 1949-50 team that was the winningest in Siena history until 2011. In the 1950-51 season, he was the leading scorer on the team and played in the East-West All-Star game in Madison Square Garden. Ed was inducted into the Siena Hall of Fame in 1973.
While at Siena, Ed met Jane Metzger, a student at The College of Saint Rose who came from Watervliet. They married at St. Patrick's in Watervliet on August 23, 1952, and enjoyed over 70 years of a happy marriage.
Two days after getting married, Ed received his draft notice. Ed played on the Fort Dix Championship basketball team during basic training, was the leading scorer on the Regimental Team, and played on the Armed Forces Baseball team while in Germany.
After the Army, Ed felt lucky to get a job teaching history and coaching basketball at Suffern High School in Suffern, N.Y. He taught there for 30 years (coaching the varsity team for 27 years) and cherished everything about it. Ed is in the Rockland County and the Suffern High School Sports Halls of Fame.
Both in the Albany area and in Suffern, Ed had a lot of success playing and pitching fast-pitch softball. While at Suffern, he officiated high school football for over 30 years.
In 1970, Ed and Jane bought into Sunset Mountain Lodge in Brant Lake, N.Y., and operated it in the summers for more than 50 years. A few years after Ed's retirement from teaching in 1984, Ed and Jane moved their full-time home to Brant Lake. Ed loved all the local people at Brant Lake as well as the summer visitors and enjoyed working the business. He spent untold hours outside gardening and making the property beautiful.
Ed and Jane were lifelong Catholics and were active in their parishes in Suffern, Brant Lake, and Venice, Fla.
Jane and Ed were fortunate in retirement to enjoy over 30 winters in Florida as snowbirds. They were also lucky enough to travel through all of Europe, most of South America, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Africa and Asia.
In the 1990s, Ed started a scholarship endowment at Siena to help current students pay their tuition. He saw it as a way of giving back for the opportunities that he was given. Approximately 50 Siena students have received help from the Kolakowski Family Scholarship.
Ed is survived by his loving wife of 70 years, Jane (Metzger) Kolakowski. He is also survived by his sons, Giles of Venice, Fla., Kevin of Brant Lake, Gary (Diane) of Brant Lake, and Kyle (Michelle) of Longmont, Colo.; and his beloved brother-in-law, Ray Metzger. He is further survived by 13 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews.
There will be a memorial Mass for Ed at the Siena College Chapel in Loudonville, on Saturday, June 17, at 10 a.m., with a luncheon to follow at The Desmond.