Jacob Nolfo

Jacob "Jake" Nolfo died peacefully at home on December 28, 2020. He was born in 1927 in New York City and raised in Cold Spring, New York. He proudly served in the United States Navy during World War II on the USS Pennsylvania in the Pacific Theater.

When he returned home he took advantage of the GI Bill and graduated from Oswego with a bachelor's degree. Jake received his master's degree at New York University. He returned to his hometown and began his career as an educator. Jake was a high school teacher, guidance counselor and district supervisor for many years in Philadelphia, Pa., Kaiserslautern, Germany, Yorktown and for most of his career in his beloved Kingston, New York.

Jake was extremely proud of serving his country and remained active in Veteran's organizations. He was honored to serve as Commander of the Hudson Valley and Putnam County VFW. He was a past Grand Knight of Loretto Council Knights of Columbus in Cold Spring. He was a very active Rotarian in clubs in Kingston, Chatham, Ma. and Albany. Jake served as president of the Kingston Rotary Club and was a Paul Harris Fellow.

While working in Yorktown, he met and married his wonderful wife of 58 years, Mary Eileen. They moved to Kingston and raised their two children, Judith and Matthew. After retirement, he and his wife moved to their home in Chatham, Ma. and lived there for many years before returning to New York. They continued to enjoy their winters in Vero Beach, Florida and traveled often to visit his family in Sicily.

Jake's parents and his three brothers predeceased him. He is survived by his wife, his children, his daughter-in-law, Moira, and his five beautiful granddaughters, Lia, Allison, Sofia, Camille and Marguerite. He is also survived by his sister-in-law, Antoinette, his brother-in-law, John, and his wife, Karen, and his nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank the nurses and aides who lovingly cared for Jake and all of their lovely friends and neighbors at the Avila Retirement Community for their constant love and support.

Funeral services will be private. If you would like to make a donation in Jake's name, please consider donating to Rotary International at my.rotary.org/donate or the VFW at Heroes.vfw.org.