Obituary of John P. Rogers

John P. (Jack) Rogers, 87, passed away peacefully on June 2, 2020 after a brief illness. He lost his wife, Mary of 61 years, https://matthewfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/642/Mary-Rogers/obituary.html#content-start>Mary</a>, just over a year ago. He was the loving father of Robert and John, loving father-in-law of Mary Pat and Beth, cherished grandfather of Katie, Alana, Kevin, Emma, Kerry Anne and David, and the great-grandfather of Robyn. Mr. Rogers was born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn. He graduated from St. John's University School of Commerce. After his two-year stint in the service, he started his accounting career, first with Main and Company and then Arthur Andersen. He married his college sweetheart, Mary, who he started dating in the first semester of their freshmen year of college; they were together for 67-1/2 years. After marriage, they settled in Marine Park, Brooklyn. While raising a family, he left public accounting and became a tax accountant in the energy industry. He started coaching basketball in parish, later serving as the director of the basketball program. They retired to Highland Beach, Florida, as snowbirds, spending the fall and winter in Florida and spending the summers, first in New Jersey, and the last couple of summers on Staten Island. While in Florida, he was treasurer of the condominium and briefly President. Jack was an avid tennis player. Down in Florida, he played 5 days a week, until he was 81 years old, finally cutting back to 3 days week. He stopped playing regularly a year later when his wife had a stroke. When back up north, he would find games at the retirement community and occasional shoot 9 holes of par-3 golf, as their home was on the fairway of one of two courses. Jack loved his St. John's basketball and watched their last full game at home with one of his sons. Over the years, he saw a number of games at the Queens campus and Madison Square Garden. He attended his 50th reunion and had a great time. He was looking forward to his 65th reunion, until it was cancelled. He loved reading crime and espionage mysteries. Over the past year, he always wore a red shirt or jacket with a St. John's logo. Memorial service will be held on August 29th, 2020 at 11am at Our Lady of Pity, 1616 Richmond Ave, Staten Island, NY 10314. Interment will be in a private ceremony at the Cemetery of St Philip & St James in Phillipsburg, NJ. An additional memorial service will be held for their friends down south on November 14th, 2020 at 8:30am at Saint Lucy Catholic Church, 3510 South Ocean Blvd, Highland Beach, FL 33487.