Former Fair Haven Mayor Joseph Szostak passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 22. He was 81.

The former longtime music professor and creator of the music program at Brookdale Community College,music director and conductor of the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, conductor of the Monmouth Conservatory Youth Chorus and music critic for the Red Bank Register made Fair Haven his home for 35 years before relocating to Caldwell seven years ago. It is there, at at Paul Ippolito-Dancy Memorial, 9 Smull Ave., where there will be a service to honor Szosktak on Sunday, Feb. 26, from 2 to 4 p.m.

Szostak served as Fair Haven mayor for one four-year term, from 2002 to 2006. As a resident of Fair Haven, he was also a social member of the Fair Haven Volunteer Fire Company.

He was known as a man who treasured his family, good food, traveling, outdoors and Fair Haven. Szostak, his family said in his obituary, was “a generous, kind, gregarious, sensitive man whose door was always open to whoever needed his help. He made the world a brighter place with his humor, warmth, and love.”

Surviving are: his loving children, Martin and his wife, Gayle McCarthy, Phillip, and David and his wife, Jennifer; cherished grandchildren, Grace and Leo, and former wife, Barbara Armbruster.

He was predeceased by: his siblings, Anna, Florence, Helen, Mildred, Frank and John Szostak.

Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect is preparing a memorial tribute to Szostak. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] with comments and/or photos. Thank you! RIP, Mayor Szostak. You are remembered.