STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Former Staten Islander John J. Stack, 95, of Jamesville N.Y., a retired Arthur Kill Correctional Facility associate director, former priest and a tireless advocate for social justice and peace who was dedicated to his family and his faith, died Monday in Nottingham Nursing Home, Jamesville, where he had resided since 2012.
Born and raised in Syracuse, N.Y., he was valedictorian of the class of 1938 at Christian Brothers Academy there.
After earning a bachelor's degree in theology from Manhattan College, the Bronx, he entered St. Bernard's Seminary, Rochester, N.Y., and became a priest in 1945. He was assigned to parishes in Binghamton and Utica, N.Y., where he also served as a chaplain at Marcy State Hospital before leaving the priesthood in 1970, after 25 years.
He moved to Graniteville in 1972, after he and Thelma Carter-Deneff married, and the couple later settled in Prince's Bay.
Mr. Stack was the associate director of Arthur Kill Correctional Facility for 20 years.
He was passionate about social justice, working for the poor and underserved. In the 1960s, he collaborated with the Rev. Daniel Berrigan in efforts end the war in Vietnam, his family said.
Mr. Stack was committed to his family, and will be remembered as a man of character and purpose, they said.
He was such an enthusiastic golfer that his friends used to tease him, saying that he never moved from parish to parish, but rather from golf course to golf course, family added.
While living on the Island, Mr. Stack was a devout parishioner of Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church, Huguenot, where he was a deacon.
Thelma, his wife of 33 years, died in 2005. He also was preceded in death by his stepdaughter, Susan Deneff, in 2011.
Surviving are his stepsons, Daniel and Michael Deneff; his stepdaughter, Roxanne Brunsman; his brother, Dr. William F.; six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be Friday with a mass at 10:30 a.m. in Most Holy Rosary R.C. Church, Syracuse. Burial will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains. The John Vincent Scalia Home for Funerals, Eltingville, is handling arrangements.