Richard P. Mark, Engineer and Veteran
Richard Perry Mark, an engineer who served in the Army infantry during the Korean War, died of lung cancer at the age of 88 last Thursday at Northport (L.I.) Veterans Hospital. He had been sick for six months.
As an engineer, Mr. Mark worked in the dairy industry, including for Sealtest Dairy, Borden Dairy Company, and Breyers. He was the manager of Aiello’s Cheese in Heuvelton, N.Y., where he and his family lived for 13 years before moving to Montauk. In Heuvelton, he was a charter member of the Lions Club.
Richard Perry Mark was born on May 13, 1930, in Trenton, N.J., one of three sons of the former Dorothy Smith and Harold Mark. Two brothers died before him: Robert Mark of Carlisle, Mass., and John Mark of Brooklyn and Montauk, who just died in May.
He grew up and graduated from high school in Trenton and received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Vermont before serving in the Army from 1951 to 1953. He received a commendation ribbon with metal pendant for service in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill on April 17 and 18, 1953.
After the war, he returned to Trenton and took a job at an arcade in Seaside Heights, N.J., where he met his future wife, Barbara Kohout, one of the six daughters of the owner. Two of her sisters also met their husbands at the arcade, where they worked for their father.
On May 13, 1959, the two were married, and from 1966 to 1970, they lived in Massapequa before leaving for Heuvelton. He and his wife and their son John moved to Montauk in 1983. His son Richard Perry Mark Jr. died at the age of 21 in 1982.
Mr. Mark was a member of Amagansett American Legion Post 419 and a parishioner of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church. He continued his hobby of surf fishing, which he had enjoyed in younger years on the Jersey Shore, and he also had an annual checkers tournament with his brother John Mark. “They were very competitive,” his son said.
Mr. Mark was “a wonderful dad,” his son said and taught his children how to repair things around the house and, together, they would “fix boats, snowmobiles, mini-bikes, and cars.” And, he added, “he was a loving grandfather to his only grandchild, Sarah Mark,” who is 1. In addition to his son, wife, and granddaughter, many nieces and nep- hews survive.
Mr. Mark had frequently expressed gratitude for the excellent care he received at the Northport V.A. Hospital, his family said, suggesting memorial donations for the hospital, 79 Middleville Road, Northport 11768. Also suggested for memorial gifts was the Montauk Fire Department, 12 Flamingo Avenue, Montauk 11954.
Mr. Mark was cremated. A service will take place at the Amagansett Presbyterian Church on July 7 at 1 p.m., the Rev. Donald Hammond presiding. It will be followed by a reception at the church’s Scoville Hall and, between 4 and 7 p.m., the family will receive visitors at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton.