Obituary of Joseph William Kovac

Joseph William Kovac, age 78, died on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville. He was born in Newark, grew up in Hillside and had lived in Piscataway before moving to Bridgewater 15 years ago. Mr. Kovac served in the U.S.Navy during the Korean War on the USS Sumner. He was a Champion Golden Gloves Heavyweight boxer. Mr. Kovac was a truck driver for Spector in Edison for over 20 years. He was a member and Post Commander of the Somerville DAV and the Somerville VFW. He also belonged to the Masons and was a member of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Somerville. He loved spending time with his family especially his grandchildren. Mr. Kovac is predeceased by his parents, Paul and Eleanor; his brothers, Paul, Robert and John and his daughter-in-law Ruth Kovac in 1996. He is survived by his beloved partner of 13 years, Barbara Stockhoff; his sons, Joseph Kovac of E. Sandwich, MA, Ronald Kovac of Middlesex and Kenneth Kovac and his wife Catherine of Bridgewater; his daughters, Debra Siegrist of Harding and Cynthia Keller and her husband Gene of Whitehouse Station; his brother, Edward Kovac and his wife, Marie and his sister-in-law Rosemary. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Rebecca, Chase, Jusztina, Tayler, Eladia, Gilbert, Luke and Angelina; his nieces and nephews, Kim, Amy, Eddie, Karen, John and Diane and his great nephews and nieces, Erica, Meredith, James, Thomas, Paulie, Jennifer, Justin, J.T. and Meghan. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 24th at 10:00 a.m. at Higgins Home for Funerals, 752 Mountain Blvd., Watchung followed by interment at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery in Union. Visitation will be on Friday from 2-4 & 7-9 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to Tin Can Sailors, P.O. Box 100, Somerset, MA 02726, to the American Orthopaedic Research Institute, P.O. Box 7088, Alexandria, VA 22307 or to Deborah Hospital, Cymrot Center, 212 Trenton Road, Browns Mills, NJ 08015.