Jerome "Jerry" Pokras

Jerry Pokras, 92, of Boynton Beach, FL, died on June 10, 2015. He was born on Manhattan’s lower east side, and lived in Bridgeport, CT and Newark, NJ as a child. He later lived in West Orange, NJ; Livingston, NJ; Ocean Township, NJ; and Toms River, NJ; before moving to Florida. When he graduated from Weequahic High School in Newark, NJ, he was enrolled in Newark College as an architecture major, and shortly after was offered a job at Churgin Lab as a dental technician. He took the job. The pay was good and he liked working with his hands. Jerry enlisted in the United States Army in 1943, during World War II. He was stationed in Ft. Eustis, VA, where he worked as a dental technician in a civilian lab. Early in his career, Jerry worked as a tool maker and became a lumber yard manager. He went on to become a kitchen designer, and owned various businesses, including a custom kitchen cabinet showroom. He was also the developer of houses in west central NJ. Jerry’s passion was his workshop, where he created things out of wood and adapted and redesigned objects and spaces to be more efficient and/or beautiful. As a sculptor, when Jerry needed to use a cane because of bad knees, he began making unique one-of-a-kind canes, each one with his hand-carved animal shape as the handle. Painted by his wife, they ranged from his arresting snow leopard to such animals as horses, dogs, birds, and other creatures, some for commissioned canes, like a pink flamingo. You can see examples at canemaker.blogspot.com. In addition to his workshop, Jerry’s interests included fishing, boating, food, UFOs, and the show Shark Tank. His family remembers him as a strong, hard worker with a great sense of humor and a big creative talent. They will miss him very much. Jerry leaves his wife of 70 years, Anne Spear Pokras; two daughters, Judy Pokras of Boynton Beach, FL; Beth Pokras Singer Bergstein (Ron) of Englewood Cliffs, NJ; his son, David Pokras of Whiting, NJ; three grandchildren: Todd Singer (Heather Broderick) and Tracey Weiss (David) of Manhattan, and Troy Singer of New Jersey; two step-grandchildren, Todd Bergstein of Freiburg, ME; and Kimberly Bergstein, of Montvale, NJ; his sister, Rhoda Schechter, of Springfield, NJ; and his brother, Norman Pokras (Sheila) of Huntington Beach, California. The family will be sitting shiva in Boynton Beach, Florida. Please contact us for the address at judypokras@gmail.com To see a photo album that Jerry Pokras's daughter Judy made in tribute to him, please click here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152881592642401.1073741845.561147400&type=1&l=e4342990eb

Jerome "Jerry" Pokras

January 11, 1923 - June 10, 2015